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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING 40 YEARS OF HECTOR HERN?NDEZ'S COMMITMENT TO THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY AND THE RUDY LOZANO BRANCH LIBRARY
WHEREAS, Hector Hern?ndez was born in General Trevi?o, Nuevo Le?n, M?xico, on January 25, 1953 to Juan Hern?ndez G?mez and Narcedalia Madrigal Guerra; and
WHEREAS, his father, Juan, was a migrant worker for Chicago and Northwestern Railways, and was able to bring his wife and seven children to the United States in 1965; and
WHEREAS, the family first settled in the Bridgeport community of Chicago where Mr. Hern?ndez attended Nativity of Our Lord School, now Bridgeport Academy, where he won spelling contests at a young age; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Hern?ndez graduated from De La Salle Institute in 1972 and earned a Bachelor's degree in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1976; and
WHEREAS, after college, Mr. Hern?ndez landed his first Chicago Public Library job in 1977, and held positions at various branches that include Back of the Yards, North Lakeview and Logan Square; and
WHEREAS, having witnessed his two older sisters who had been teachers in Mexico work as laborers at a lamp company in Chicago, he saw the hardships migrants in the U.S. face and knew he had to continue his education to improve his quality of life; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Hern?ndez went on to earn two Master's degrees from the University of Illinois, a Master's in Library Science and a Master's in Spanish Literature; and
WHEREAS, as he was about to begin a doctoral program in Spanish Literature at the University of Indiana at Bloomington in 1985, Mr. Hern?ndez's life and career changed course; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Hern?ndez was offered a position as head of the Chicago Public Library's Spanish Information Center and also served as assistant head of the Foreign Languages Section and Hispanic Services Coordinator, and was based at the main branch in what is now the Chicago Cultural Center; and
WHEREAS, while there, he...
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