SR1075 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1075 LRB098 20634 MST 57156 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Helen E. "Betty" (nee Lindsay) Christy, formerly of Hinsdale, who passed away on January 26, 2014; and

WHEREAS, Helen Christy grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago and attended University High School, where she met her future husband, William Christy; and

WHEREAS, Helen Christy moved to Hinsdale in 1955 and, in the early 1960s, opened "La Petite Boutique" on Washington Street, a craft shop where she taught classes and sold homemade items such as silhouettes and miniature balsa wood houses; she eventually opened "Tree Toys", an international mail order crafts company; she taught classes at the College of DuPage and published and sold approximately 140 books and kits with instructions on how to make her products; she sold her business in 1994 but later opened a similar one "Christy Crafts"; and

WHEREAS, Helen Christy received the Distinguished Service Award in 1965 from the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Junior Chamber of Commerce; she was a life-member of the Society of Craft Designers, the Association of Crafts & Creative Industries, a 2001 inductee into the Craft Hall of Fame, and an honorary member and patron of the Quilling Guild of England; and

WHEREAS, Helen Christy worked for 19 years for a Hinsdale pediatrician as an office manager and medical assistant; she became involved with the volunteer program at the Hinsdale Hospital and earned her 7000 hour pin for her work in the emergency department from 1956 to the 1990s; and

WHEREAS, Helen Christy was a talented entrepreneur committed to spreading the word about her field through instructional books and her craft boutique in Hinsdale; and

WHEREAS, Helen Christy was the beloved wife of the late William Christy, Sr.; the loving mother of William (Fr. Vladimir) Christy (longtime friend of Mark Dean), Caren Lynn (Edward) Hennessy, Janet Lee Stroh, and the late Lawrence C. Christy; she was "Grandma Betty" to her 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren; and the fond sister of Jeanne Russack; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Helen E. "Betty" Christy, and extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Helen Christy as an expression of our deepest sympathy.