AP:Wyvetter H. Younge, one of the longest-serving current members of the Illinois House, has died. She was 78.Funeral arrangements are pending and also Younge was an alumni of Hampton University. Here's her General Assembly profile.
Younge was taken to a hospital with a bleeding artery on Dec. 9. She died Friday night from complications that arose during surgery, said her daughter, Margaret Hewitt.
Younge, a mother of five, represented East St. Louis as a Democrat since 1975. Hewitt, who is now 43, was nine years old when Younge was first elected.
Hewitt remembers that her mother drove 90 minutes each way to Springfield every day so she could see her children in the mornings and evenings.
ADDITION: Illinois Review pays tribune and links to an article about the late state Representative courtesy of St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Rep. Younge was first elected to the House in 1975 and promptly made urban renewal one of her primary focuses.According this article state law indicates that local Democratic Party officials must declare a replacement in Younge's district within 30 days.
In Springfield, Rep. Younge was known as a champion of causes on behalf of her largely poor district. Many of the bills she sponsored in the current legislative term were typical, focusing on issues such as substance abuse treatment, services for the homeless and economic development in St. Clair County.
"Wyvetter was a tireless advocate for East St. Louis who never stopped trying to improve life for her constituents," Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said Saturday through a spokesman. A statement from Gov. Rod Blagojevich had similar sentiments.
2 comments:
Wyvetter Younge is my Grandmother. I love her, and I miss her.
It's sad and yet a joy that this lady who inspire other to do better. Just by her present in a room. I remember Mrs. Wyvetter Hoover Younge as someone. Who educated me to be a dreamer and visioneer. I met State Representative Younge as bright eye young man with many question? About our State Government and she in turn ask me? A question what will I do with my life after graduation. I answer I am going to Washington D.C. with some of my classmate and fews hundreds Student of color to meet President Carter and talk about, how can we as student make a different. Well as thing would happen Mount Saint Helen was acting out and the meeting was cancel, but upon my return back a letter and phone call from this great lady. Open a whole new world for me to served as Illinois State Representative Pages-Sponor by Rep. Younge.
She gave me a learn experience that few have match to date; I met her lifelong friend and support Ruth, Margaret,Richard Sr and Jr. along with Hon. Kathryn Dunham and Cheese Butter man Will McGaughy their were other but none as devoted as these individual. I often in later years refer to as my Aunt. Because she was like a sister to my dad (Ira B. Dickerson, Sr-1977) but mostly how we travel togehter. It's like those freedom rides i read about in school. I live them with her and her family. She believed that one in her lifetime people of color would truly be recognize. I know that dream really come true. I will Mrs. Wyvette Hoover Younge the longest sitting State Representative in Illinois History but, I will truly miss a Champion and Hero for the people who never wear a mask. She was the real deal.
Respectfully your Page-1980,
Mr. Ira B. Dickerson, Jr.
Preisdent & Chief Executive Officer
I Force II Security Services, Inc.
Oakland Base Corporation
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