IL HR1386

Dr. Marie Wilkinson of Aurora passed away on August 12, 2010, at age 101 after a lifetime of community service and civil rights advocacy.

Founded the St. Vincent DePaul Center in 1961 and helped establish the Quad County Urban League, Aurora's Human Relations Commission (which she chaired for 40 years), and facilities bearing her name including a food pantry and child development center.

Worked as a civil rights crusader alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and met Rosa Parks and Emmett Till's mother Mamie Till-Mobley; received the Lumen Christi Award in 2001, the Catholic Church's highest honor for missionary work.

The Illinois House of Representatives mourns her passing and expresses sincere sympathy to her surviving family, including her daughter Sheila Scott-Wilkinson, two granddaughters, great-grandson, and extended relatives.