Illinois State Society of Washington, DC

Illinois Hall of Fame: Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

By Mark Rhoads

"Less is more."  -- Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe was one of the most influential architects of the Twentieth Century. Mies was born in Germany on March 27, 1886.  His simple designs avoided ornamentation using glass, marble, exposed steel, and stone.  They came to be copied widely as typical of modern design.  As a young man, Mies worked in his father's stone carving shop before moving to Berlin to establish his own office before World War I.  After the Nazi government took power in 1933, Mies had little work to do in a country where everything including architecture was supposed to serve the state.

In 1937 as Germany prepared for war, Mies left his homeland and moved to Chicago to head the architecture school at the Armour Institute of Technology. In 1940, the Armour Institute merged with the Lewis Institute to form what is now called the Illinois Institute of Technology. Over the next decade Mies designed and supervised the construction of about 20 buildings on the IIT campus in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Marva Collins

By Mark Rhoads

Most Americans first heard about Marva Collins in 1981 when she was potrayed by Cicely Tyson in a made for TV movie called The Marva Collins Story that also co-starred Morgan Freeman.  She was offered the position of Secretary of Education by President Ronald Reagan but she preferred to stay a teacher. Marva is an outstanding Illinois educator who has won national praise for her results-oriented old-fashioned approach to teaching by the Socratic method.  She believes that every child can learn and wants to learn in a respectful teaching environment.  She believes that challenging children is a more direct path to true self-eteem and self confidence than any artificial or contrived dumbing down of lessons.

Marva was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1936 and grew up in Artmore, Alabama in an era when segregation was the cultural norm. Her father Henry was a businessman and a strong and positive influence on her life.  She learned to read from Bible School books and the directions on tin cans and from books her father borrowed in Mobile.  He graduated from the all-black Eschambia County Training School in Artmore.  According to the Marva Collins Seminars web site, black people in her town could not get a card at the public library and her grammar school had few books and no indoor plumbing.  But her family inspired in her a strong desire to learn and achieve independence and self respect. She graduated from Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1957 and taught school in Alabama for two years. In 1959, Marva moved to Chicago and married Clarence Collins.  In 1960, she was hired as a substitute teacher in the Chicago School system even though she did not yet have a formal teaching certificate but quickly got one to teach full time.  She taught in Chicago public schools for 14 years until 1974. 

By Mark Rhoads

Most Americans first heard about Marva Collins in 1981 when she was potrayed by Cicely Tyson in a made for TV movie called The Marva Collins Story that also co-starred Morgan Freeman.  She was offered the position of Secretary of Education by President Ronald Reagan but she preferred to stay a teacher. Marva is an outstanding Illinois educator who has won national praise for her results-oriented old-fashioned approach to teaching by the Socratic method.  She believes that every child can learn and wants to learn in a respectful teaching environment.  She believes that challenging children is a more direct path to true self-eteem and self confidence than any artificial or contrived dumbing down of lessons.

Marva was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1936 and grew up in Artmore, Alabama in an era when segregation was the cultural norm. Her father Henry was a businessman and a strong and positive influence on her life.  She learned to read from Bible School books and the directions on tin cans and from books her father borrowed in Mobile.  He graduated from the all-black Eschambia County Training School in Artmore.  According to the Marva Collins Seminars web site, black people in her town could not get a card at the public library and her grammar school had few books and no indoor plumbing.  But her family inspired in her a strong desire to learn and achieve independence and self respect. She graduated from Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1957 and taught school in Alabama for two years. In 1959, Marva moved to Chicago and married Clarence Collins.  In 1960, she was hired as a substitute teacher in the Chicago School system even though she did not yet have a formal teaching certificate but quickly got one to teach full time.  She taught in Chicago public schools for 14 years until 1974. 

Illinois Hall of Fame: Edgar Rice Burroughs

By Mark Rhoads

Famous American author Edgar Rice Burroughs was the creator of Tarzan and other popular literary characters in the early part of the 20th Century. Edgar was born in Chicago on Sept. 1, 1875. He was the youngest in the family after two of five brothers died as infants. His father was a former Union officer, Maj. George Tyler Burroughs and his mother was Mary Burroughs. The family lived in a three-story brick house at 646 Washington Boulevard on the West Side between Lincoln and Robey Streets.

When Edgar was growing up in Chicago there were often contagious diseases that spread among children and caused the shut down of classes and interruption of school work.  Edgar's parents tried to protect him from a dangerous influenza in 1891 by putting him on a train to Idaho where is older brothers George and Harry worked on a cattle ranch.  Edgar loved the life on the frontier ranch for a half-year but then was send to Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. But he did not like Andover so his father sent him to Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake. It is believed that Edgar drove the first "horseless carriage" or automobile in Chicago in 1893 due to his father's position with American Battery Company. Burroughs graduated from MMA in 1895 and stayed on for a while as an instructor. In 1896 he went to Arizona to join the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, former regiment of George Armstrong Custer, but he was discharged a year later with no adventure to add to his resume.

By Mark Rhoads

Famous American author Edgar Rice Burroughs was the creator of Tarzan and other popular literary characters in the early part of the 20th Century. Edgar was born in Chicago on Sept. 1, 1875. He was the youngest in the family after two of five brothers died as infants. His father was a former Union officer, Maj. George Tyler Burroughs and his mother was Mary Burroughs. The family lived in a three-story brick house at 646 Washington Boulevard on the West Side between Lincoln and Robey Streets.

When Edgar was growing up in Chicago there were often contagious diseases that spread among children and caused the shut down of classes and interruption of school work.  Edgar's parents tried to protect him from a dangerous influenza in 1891 by putting him on a train to Idaho where is older brothers George and Harry worked on a cattle ranch.  Edgar loved the life on the frontier ranch for a half-year but then was send to Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. But he did not like Andover so his father sent him to Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake. It is believed that Edgar drove the first "horseless carriage" or automobile in Chicago in 1893 due to his father's position with American Battery Company. Burroughs graduated from MMA in 1895 and stayed on for a while as an instructor. In 1896 he went to Arizona to join the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, former regiment of George Armstrong Custer, but he was discharged a year later with no adventure to add to his resume.

Illinois Hall of Fame: George Halas

By Mark Rhoads

"Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it."  --George Halas

George Halas was a lifelong Illinois resident who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall Fame with the first class in 1963. He was a founder of the National Football League in 1920 and the only founder still active with the league on its 60th anniversary in 1980.  He owned the Chicago Bears for sixty-three years from 1920 to 1983 and was head coach of the Bears for forty years in four different periods.

George was born in Chicago on Feb. 2, 1895 to a family of Czech immigrants.  He graduated from Crane Tech High School in 1913. George was 20 years old during the summer of 1915 when he had a temporary job with Western Electric. On Saturday morning, July 24, he set out from home on his way to join 7,000 thousand company employees on five boats leaving the Chicago River to sail for Michigan City, Indiana for the fifth annual company picnic.  If he had been on time, George was supposed to ride along with 2,500 other passengers on the tour boat SS Eastland.  A light rain was falling and Bradfield's Orehcestra was playing on the promenade. George was running late and by the time he arrived at the wharf between Clark and LaSalle after 7:30 AM, The Eastland had already rolled over on its port side when a large number of people had suddenly surged to one side of the top-heavy boat.  Almost 841 passengers, all Western Electric employees, were killed or drowned when the boat rolled over.  Almost all were in the language of that time, "Bohemian" or Czech residents of Cicero. There were also more than 1,500 survivors. George Halas was not among either group because he was late.

By Mark Rhoads

"Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it."  --George Halas

George Halas was a lifelong Illinois resident who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall Fame with the first class in 1963. He was a founder of the National Football League in 1920 and the only founder still active with the league on its 60th anniversary in 1980.  He owned the Chicago Bears for sixty-three years from 1920 to 1983 and was head coach of the Bears for forty years in four different periods.

George was born in Chicago on Feb. 2, 1895 to a family of Czech immigrants.  He graduated from Crane Tech High School in 1913. George was 20 years old during the summer of 1915 when he had a temporary job with Western Electric. On Saturday morning, July 24, he set out from home on his way to join 7,000 thousand company employees on five boats leaving the Chicago River to sail for Michigan City, Indiana for the fifth annual company picnic.  If he had been on time, George was supposed to ride along with 2,500 other passengers on the tour boat SS Eastland.  A light rain was falling and Bradfield's Orehcestra was playing on the promenade. George was running late and by the time he arrived at the wharf between Clark and LaSalle after 7:30 AM, The Eastland had already rolled over on its port side when a large number of people had suddenly surged to one side of the top-heavy boat.  Almost 841 passengers, all Western Electric employees, were killed or drowned when the boat rolled over.  Almost all were in the language of that time, "Bohemian" or Czech residents of Cicero. There were also more than 1,500 survivors. George Halas was not among either group because he was late.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Lee Phillip

By Mark Rhoads

For decades tens of thousands of fans thought of Lee Phillip as one of the nicest TV personalities in Chicago.  The reputation was well justified.  Emmy Award-winning TV producer and host Lee Phillip studied microbiology at Northwestern University. Her family owned Phillip's Florists in La Grange Park and other western suburbs in the 1950s.  One day Lee went with her brother to the Channel 2 studio to help him with a show on flower presentation. She took over that show and eventually hosted her own daytime variety talk show on WBBM-TV that won 16 Chicago Emmy Awards.  Lee married TV writer and producer William J. Bell in 1954 and the marriage lasted until his death in 2005. With her husband she was co-creator of the national daytime soap opera called The Young and the Restless.  Lee won a national daytime Emmy in 1975 for that show.

Lee and William also co-created another soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful. She served as co-executive producer of that show during the 1980s. In 1977, Lee was the first woman to receive the Governor's Award from the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  Lee is the mother of William J. Bell, Jr, Lauralee Bell, and Bradley Bell who have all acted in soap operas. She also has six grandchildren.  Part of Lee's legacy to Chicago includes her generous donation of $500,000 in 2006 to Bruce DuMont's new Museum of Broadcast Communications Building located at State and Kinzie Streets on the North Side of Chicago.

By Mark Rhoads

For decades tens of thousands of fans thought of Lee Phillip as one of the nicest TV personalities in Chicago.  The reputation was well justified.  Emmy Award-winning TV producer and host Lee Phillip studied microbiology at Northwestern University. Her family owned Phillip's Florists in La Grange Park and other western suburbs in the 1950s.  One day Lee went with her brother to the Channel 2 studio to help him with a show on flower presentation. She took over that show and eventually hosted her own daytime variety talk show on WBBM-TV that won 16 Chicago Emmy Awards.  Lee married TV writer and producer William J. Bell in 1954 and the marriage lasted until his death in 2005. With her husband she was co-creator of the national daytime soap opera called The Young and the Restless.  Lee won a national daytime Emmy in 1975 for that show.

Lee and William also co-created another soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful. She served as co-executive producer of that show during the 1980s. In 1977, Lee was the first woman to receive the Governor's Award from the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  Lee is the mother of William J. Bell, Jr, Lauralee Bell, and Bradley Bell who have all acted in soap operas. She also has six grandchildren.  Part of Lee's legacy to Chicago includes her generous donation of $500,000 in 2006 to Bruce DuMont's new Museum of Broadcast Communications Building located at State and Kinzie Streets on the North Side of Chicago.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Harold Ickes

By Mark Rhoads

Chicago attorney Harold Ickes was a key political advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He served as the 32nd Secretary of the Interior for 13 years from 1933 to 1946, longer in that post than any other person. His name is pronounced as if it were "Ick-eez."

Harold was born on a farm near Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1874. His family moved to Chicago in 1890 when Harold was 16 and he graduated from Englewood High School in 1892. In 1893, he started to work his way through the University of Chicago to earn a B.A. degree and graduate with the first class of 1897.  He worked as a newspaper reporter for The Chicago Record and for The Chicago Daily Tribune while he studied law at night.  In 1907, he earned a law degree from the University of Chicago School of Law. But he did not practice much law and preferred to work on reform political causes.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Richard Pryor

By Mark Rhoads

Stand-up comedian and movie star Richard Pyror was born on Dec. 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois. His father was a bartender and a World War II veteran.  His mother abandoned Richard when he was ten. He was one of four children raised by his grandmother in a house of ill repute that she owned.  Richard would escape some of the traumatic experiences of his childhood by going to the movies as often as he could to see westerns and other adventure films. 

According to Richard Pryor's website, his first opportunity to perform in public came at the age of 12. Juliette Whitaker was a supervisor at a public recreational program in Peoria.  She cast Richard in a performance of Rumplestiltskin and the audience was impressed by his comic faces and stage presence. Richard attended public schools in Peoria and served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960 where he also performed in some amateur shows. After the Army, he performed both songs and comedy at Harold's Club in Peoria. His comedy routine was more popular than his singing so he transformed the act and took it on the road to many clubs throughout the midwest.

By Mark Rhoads

Stand-up comedian and movie star Richard Pyror was born on Dec. 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois. His father was a bartender and a World War II veteran.  His mother abandoned Richard when he was ten. He was one of four children raised by his grandmother in a house of ill repute that she owned.  Richard would escape some of the traumatic experiences of his childhood by going to the movies as often as he could to see westerns and other adventure films. 

According to Richard Pryor's website, his first opportunity to perform in public came at the age of 12. Juliette Whitaker was a supervisor at a public recreational program in Peoria.  She cast Richard in a performance of Rumplestiltskin and the audience was impressed by his comic faces and stage presence. Richard attended public schools in Peoria and served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960 where he also performed in some amateur shows. After the Army, he performed both songs and comedy at Harold's Club in Peoria. His comedy routine was more popular than his singing so he transformed the act and took it on the road to many clubs throughout the midwest.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Ralph Bellamy

By Mark Rhoads

Tony Award-winning actor Ralph Bellamy was born in Chicago on June 17, 1904.  He was the oldest of three children of Charles Rexford Bellamy and Lilla Louise Smith. Ralph's father worked for the Barnes Crosby Advertising Agency. Ralph lived with his father, mother, a brother, a sister, and his maternal grandmother in an apartment at 5709 South Kimbark Avenue just east of the campus of the University of Chicago. At age 5 in 1909, Ralph's family moved to Wilmette where he grew up attending public school and working at odd jobs such as a newspaper delivery boy and a grocery delivery boy for Brinkman's Grocery. He also beat rugs, raked and burned leaves, and worked as an usher at a local movie theater and as a soda jerk.

Ralph was president of the Drama Club at New Trier High School but he unfortunately was expelled for smoking on school property before graduation. He developed his acting craft in the late 1920s by going on tour. He was only 22 when he formed his own stock company called "The Ralph Bellamy Players" based in Evanston and which existed from 1926 to 1930.   

By Mark Rhoads

Tony Award-winning actor Ralph Bellamy was born in Chicago on June 17, 1904.  He was the oldest of three children of Charles Rexford Bellamy and Lilla Louise Smith. Ralph's father worked for the Barnes Crosby Advertising Agency. Ralph lived with his father, mother, a brother, a sister, and his maternal grandmother in an apartment at 5709 South Kimbark Avenue just east of the campus of the University of Chicago. At age 5 in 1909, Ralph's family moved to Wilmette where he grew up attending public school and working at odd jobs such as a newspaper delivery boy and a grocery delivery boy for Brinkman's Grocery. He also beat rugs, raked and burned leaves, and worked as an usher at a local movie theater and as a soda jerk.

Ralph was president of the Drama Club at New Trier High School but he unfortunately was expelled for smoking on school property before graduation. He developed his acting craft in the late 1920s by going on tour. He was only 22 when he formed his own stock company called "The Ralph Bellamy Players" based in Evanston and which existed from 1926 to 1930.   

Illinois Hall of Fame: Louis Sullivan

By Mark Rhoads

Louis Sullivan was one of the great Chicago architects of the 19th Century. He is best remembered for his design for the Auditorium Theater at Roosevelt University and for the Carson, Pirie, Scott Store at the corner of State and Madison.

Sullivan was born on Sept. 3, 1856 in Boston and studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He worked with Frank Furness in Philadelphia. Sullivan first came to Chicago in 1873 to work for William LeBaron Jenney, "the father of the skyscraper." Chicago was in the middle of a building boom to rebuild the city after the Great Fire of 1871. He completed his formal studies in one year at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and returned again to Chicago when he was just 19.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Lynn Martin

By Mark Rhoads

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Congresswoman Lynn Morley Martin (R-Rockford) as U.S. Secretary of Labor to succeed Elizabeth Dole. She followed in the footsteps of Patricia Robert Harris of Mattoon and Chicago who was the first woman from Illinois to be appointed to the cabinet under President Jimmy Carter. Lynn Morley was born in Chicago on Dec. 26, 1939 and attended public schools there. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.A. degree in 1960.

After college, Lynn taught at public schools in Du Page County and moved to Rockford in 1964.  There she was a high school teacher of government and English in District 205 until 1969.  She later served on the school board from 1972 to 1976 when she was elected to the State House of Representatives.

In 1978 she was elected to the State Senate and then two years later in 1980 she ran for an won the Congressional seat vacated by former Rep. John Anderson.  Anderson left Congress to make an unsuccessul bid for president both in the Republican primaries in the spring of 1980 and as an independent in the fall. Lynn began her service in Congress in January 1981 and served for the next ten years until January 1991. She served several terms as Congressional Vice President of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC.

By Mark Rhoads

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Congresswoman Lynn Morley Martin (R-Rockford) as U.S. Secretary of Labor to succeed Elizabeth Dole. She followed in the footsteps of Patricia Robert Harris of Mattoon and Chicago who was the first woman from Illinois to be appointed to the cabinet under President Jimmy Carter. Lynn Morley was born in Chicago on Dec. 26, 1939 and attended public schools there. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.A. degree in 1960.

After college, Lynn taught at public schools in Du Page County and moved to Rockford in 1964.  There she was a high school teacher of government and English in District 205 until 1969.  She later served on the school board from 1972 to 1976 when she was elected to the State House of Representatives.

In 1978 she was elected to the State Senate and then two years later in 1980 she ran for an won the Congressional seat vacated by former Rep. John Anderson.  Anderson left Congress to make an unsuccessul bid for president both in the Republican primaries in the spring of 1980 and as an independent in the fall. Lynn began her service in Congress in January 1981 and served for the next ten years until January 1991. She served several terms as Congressional Vice President of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC.