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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
COMMEMORATING THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE, ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND MEMORY OF JANET OTWELL
WHEREAS, Jan Otwell, former President of the League of Women Voters of Illinois, Director of the Illinois Department of Aging and a tireless advocate and community volunteer died on February 23, 2015 leaving behind countless friends, family and a community profoundly enriched for having known her; and
WHEREAS, Jan Otwell championed the value of civic engagement over a long life of volunteer and public service. She inspired Illinois citizens to greater awareness of public issues and participation in the democratic process through her leadership in the community, her service in state government, and her time spent volunteering in social service agencies; and
WHEREAS, Jan Otwell grew up in suburban Philadelphia and came to Illinois to study journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism, and it was while working on the Daily Northwestern newspaper that she met her husband Ralph Otwell. He was a reporter and she was his managing editor. Jan and Ralph had three sons and, while Ralph rose through the ranks in journalism to become a top editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jan focused her energies on the family and became a valued volunteer in the community; and
WHEREAS, Jan Otwell was a member of the Illinois League state board from 1968 to 1981, and served as its President from 1977 to 1981. During this time she spearheaded the League's effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Illinois, and directed the Illinois Juvenile Court Watching Project, which was funded through the Illinois League. As President, she chose to take the Illinois League Convention to the neighboring state of Wisconsin after Illinois refused to ratify the ERA. In recognition for her decades of hard work and dedication to the League of Women Voters she was honored with the Carrie Chapman Catt Award, the hig...
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