Bill Text: IL HR0937 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Congratulates Barbara Jean Gleghorn on her 80th birthday.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-03-21 - Resolution Adopted [HR0937 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-HR0937-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
Representatives are pleased to congratulate Barbara Jean (nee
Matthews) Gleghorn on the occasion of her 80th birthday on
April 19, 2014; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn was born in the city of
Carbondale to an African American railroad worker named Robert
Matthews, who relocated to Carbondale after changing his
surname to flee the noose of intolerance and bigotry in the
South, marrying Lou Della Griffin, the daughter of a plantation
owner from Carruthers, Mississippi, they raised 9 children; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn was the 5th child, with the
children affectionately calling their parents "Daddie" and
"Dea"; due to only having an 8th-grade education, Robert and
Lou Della misspelled their daughter's name as "B-A-BR-A" on her
birth certificate; and
WHEREAS, Throughout her youth, Barbara Gleghorn, nicknamed
"Bobbie", studied hard to rise above her station of poverty to
become a writer on her school newspaper; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn attended Crispus Attucks School
and earned a scholarship in the sport of tennis allowing her to

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attend Southern Illinois University in Carbondale as a student,
with an English major and business minor; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn fell in love with a young man,
whom she would accept as her fiance, only to mourn his death
after a car train accident and then discovering she was with
child; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn welcomed her 1st child into this
world in 1953, then at 19-years-old, moved to Springfield to
stay at the boarding house formerly used as the now-historic
Colored Folks Orphanage and, upon marrying Charles Price,
subsequently was blessed with 6 other children; and
WHEREAS, Alan, Evelyn, Charlotte, Charles, Patricia,
James, and Jacqueline were reared by their parents in a loving
environment in the city of Springfield while also attending St.
John's African Methodist Episcopal Church for several years
before joining St. Paul AME Church; and
WHEREAS, For more than 50 years, Barbara Gleghorn has been
a member of the little red church at 16th and Stuart streets in
Springfield, where she currently holds the offices of
Past-President of the Estella Thompson Women's Missionary
Society, as well as being a member of the Steward Board and
serving the Lord in the adult Gospel Choir; and

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WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn's dedication and spirituality
called her to serve also as a member, past-President of the
local chapter, Area Chair, and Vice-President of the State
Chapter of Church Women United with offices in the United
Nations in New York City, serving the meek and needy citizens
of this world; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn supported and became a member of
the Jerome Irwin Republican Club in Springfield and helped her
son, Charles Price, to become one of the few black youths to
work as a page on the floor of the Illinois House of
Representatives for Republican legislators; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn retired from working for the
State of Illinois after 35 years and later periodically worked
for Springfield Public School District 186 as a substitute,
retiring again to do charitable work and with the James Weldon
Johnson Literary Guild, founded after members became friends
with James Weldon Johnson; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Gleghorn volunteered with the Parent
Helpline to help new mothers learn how to care for their
babies, and is active with AMVETS Auxiliary to ensure that
military veterans receive the honors they deserve; and

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WHEREAS, After the end of her marriage to Charles, Barbara
married Alexander Gleghorn, whom she loved and cared for until
he lost a battle with cancer; and
WHEREAS, Despite the tragic and heart-wrenching passing
away of her fourth child Charles Philip Price, Barbara Gleghorn
holds on to her unfaltering faith in a higher being greater
than she professing the words of the gospel spiritual, "I don't
feel no ways tired. I've come to far from where I started from.
Nobody told me, the road would be easy. I don't believe He
brought me this far, to leave me," to keep soldiering on; and
WHEREAS, On April 18th and 19th, 2014, friends and family
including her 6 surviving children, her step-children, her 22
grandchildren, her 41 great-grandchildren, and her 2
great-great-grandchildren, will fete her ceremoniously at the
Springfield Park District's Erin's Pavilion in Southwind Park
with laughter, food, and fun to honor a woman who, through her
charitable work, has helped hundreds of friends who are known
and unknown; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we honor Barbara Jean Gleghorn on the occasion of her 80th
birthday and wish her well in all of her future endeavors; and
be it further

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RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to Barbara Jean Gleghorn as an expression of our
esteem and respect.