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Brig Gen. Geen B. Raum from Pope County was president of the Illinois State Association (Illinois State Society) from 1884 to 1885. Raum lived from December 3, 1829 to December 18, 1909 and he was a lawyer, author, and U.S. Representative from Illinois, as well as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served in the Western Theater, seeing action in several major battles while leading first an infantry regiment and then a brigade. He also presided over the Internal Revenue Service for seven years and was a prolific author of historical non-fiction books concerning politics and general Illinois history.

Capt. William Meredith from Chicago was president of the Illinois State Society from 1892 to 1893. He held several top positions including Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Congressman Ebon Ingersoll of Peoria is the first known Member of Congress to serve as President of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC when it was known as the Illinois State Association. He served as president from 1871 to 1872.

Ingersoll was born in 1831 and died in 1879. He was elected to Congress represent the central Illinois' 5th District in the United States House of Representatives, and he served from 1864 to 1871. He also served as a Member of the Illinois State Legislature.

Herbert W. Rutledge was president of the Illinois State Society from 1919 to 1923. He moved from Alton to Washington in 1909 to work for the Bureau of Crop and Livestock Estimates. He was related to the family of Anne Rutledge of New Salem who may have been engaged to Abraham Lincoln before she died in 1835.

Congressman Henry Riggs Rathbone only served as President of the Illinois State Society for six months from January 1928 to his sudden death in Chicago in July of that same year. He was the son of Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. They were an engaged couple when they sat in the same box at Ford;s Theater with President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865 as they watched Laura Keene in Our American Cousin. John Wilkes Booth entered the back of the box and mortally shot President Lincoln. Major Rathbone tried to catch Booth but Booth cut Rathbone's arm with a knife. Congressman Rathbone served about 6 terms in the U.S. House and was always and active member of the Illinois State Society.

Charles Dawes was a banker from Evanston, Illinois who served as Vice President of the United States with President Calfin Coolidge from 1925 to 1929. He often led the receiving line for events of the Illinois State Society during those four years. In 1925 he shared the Nobel Prize for Peace with Sir Austen Chamberlain of England for their work on stabilizing the currencies of Europe after World War One. Dawes was a great grandson of William Dawes who rode with Paul Revere to altert Massachusetss Minute Men on April 18, 1775 to start the American Revolution. The most surprising face about Dawes is that a lyricist added words to piano selection he wrote and it became a hit record of the 1950s called It's "All in the Game."

Congressman Frank Reid is shown in a bow tie sitting to the left of Gen. Billy Mitchell during Mitchell's court martial in 1925. Illinois State Society member, Congressman Frank Reid (R-Aurora), was civilian defense counsel for Gen. Billy Mitchell durng his court martial for insubordination in 1925. In a movie about the trial in 1958 starring Gary Cooper as Gen. Mitchell, the part of Frank Reid was played by Chicago-born actor Ralph Bellamy. Reid's son Frank Jr. died before the election of 1962 when he was a candidate for his father's old seat. GOP slatemakers replaced him with his widow Charlotte Thompson Reid who served in Congress and later as a member of the FCC. She was an active member of the Illinois State Society. Charlotte Leota Thompson was born on September 27, 1913, in Kankakee, Illinois. She attended public schools in Aurora and the Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. In 1932, she left Illinois College, without taking a degree, to pursue her musical interests. In 1936, Thompson auditioned and won a spot on a popular, Chicago-based radioo show, Don McNeill’s “Breakfast Club.” Thompson sang under the name Annette King for nearly three years as the show’s featured vocalist and became a voice familiar to millions of Americans who listened on the National Broadcasting Company network.

ILSS officers for 1939-1940 pose for a photo before the annual formal dance. At center seated is Society President Reginald W. Frank. Other officers that year, not all identified included Mr. George Stonebraker, Mrs. Grace Cooper, Mr. George H. Cameron, Mr. R.E. Espey, Mrs. W.F. Ferrell, Mr. Howard Law, and Miss Elsie Green.

On August 26, 1939, ISS members took a train to New York to celebrate Illinois Day at the World of Tomorrow World's Fair. A few days after they returned to Washington, World War II began in Europe when Germany invaded Poland.

U.S. Senator William H. Dieterich was a Democrat from Cooperstown, Illinois in Brown County. He was a Congressman at large and was elected a U.S. Senator in 1932 and served in the Senate from 1933 to 1939. While he was still in the House he was also elected as President of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC and served in that post from 1932 to 1935.

U.S. Court of Claims Judge Thomas Williams from Clay County was president of the Illinois State Society from 1930 to 1931. Williams attended Willis district school, Louisville High School, and Austin College, Effingham, Illinois. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1897 and commenced practice in Louisville. Williams was elected Louisville city attorney from 1897 to 1899, then served as member of the State house of representatives from 1899 to 1901. He served as mayor of Louisville 1907-1909. He served as prosecuting attorney of Clay County 1908-1915. He became the owner and publisher of the Clay County Republican at Louisville in 1920. He moved to Harrisburg, Illinois, in 1926.

Williams was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth and to the seven succeeding Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce (Sixty-sixth Congress). Williams served from March 4, 1915, until his resignation November 11, 1929, having been appointed by President Herbert Hoover a judge for the Court of Claims of the United States.

Congressman Kent Keller (D-IL) was president of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC from 1935 to 1937.
Rep. Keller was born on a farm near Campbell Hill, Jackson County, Ill., June 4, 1867; attended the public schools in Ava, Ill.; was graduated from Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale in 1890. He founded the Ava Community High School in 1889 and 1890; attended Heidelberg University, Germany, in 1891 and 1892; was graduated from St. Louis (Mo.) Law School in 1896; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Ava, Ill. He served in the Illinois State Senate 1913-1917; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1916; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1931-January 3, 1941); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1940 and in 1942 and in 1944. He served as special adviser to the United States Ambassador at Mexico City from June 1945 to August 1946; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1948 adn in 1950. Keller died in Ava, Ill., September 3, 1954; interment in Ava Evergreen Cemetery.

1933 Century of Progress Fair in Chicago
The Illinois State Society of Washington, DC took advantage of special group fares offered by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to take members to Chicago for the 1933 World's Fair. A special train car just for Illinoisans who were federal employees from "Egypt" or southern Illinois was a centerpiece of one of the trips. Many federal employees wound up taking that trip sponsored by the Illinois State Society.

Chris Kimble, Bunny Knupp, and Ruth Crowdy pictured above got to the Illinois State Society dance late on Friday night, December 5, 1941. Just a few blocks away from the dance at the Wardman Park Hotel, special Japanese envoys Nomura and Kurusu were expecting a long cable from Tokyo in fourteen parts. The last part was slated for delivery to Secretary of State Cordell Hull at exactly 1 PM on Sunday, Dec. 7 when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii started.at 8 AM Hawaii time.

At left is Illinois State Society board member Frank Knox, a former publisher of the Chicago Daily News and Secretary of the Navy for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR presents the Medal of Honor in 1942 to Navy pilot Butch O'Hare from Illinois. Sadly Butch was killed in action in 1943 and in 1949 the Orchard Field near Chicago was named O'Hare International Airport in his honor.

Adlai E. Stevenson, II was a member of the Illinois State Society when he served in Washington, DC as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War II, He later was elected Governor of Illinois in 1948 and ran for president twice in 1952 and 1956 against President Dwight D. Eisenhower. President John F. Kennedy appointed Stevenson to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1961. His grandfather was Vice President of the United States under President Grover Cleveland and his son Adlai, III was elected U.S. Senator from Illinois in 1970 and he too was a member of the Illinois State Society.

Congressman James Barnes of Morgan County served as President of the Illinois State Society from 1941 to 1942. He left Congress to work as an administrative assistant to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.

Freeport Journal Standard Jan. 18, 1940
V. Y. Dallman was the editor of the Illinois State Register in Springfield for many years from the 1920s and he kept writing to the 1960s. Dallman rode on the plane with Charles Lindbergh in May 1926 to report on the first round trip mail flight from Springfield to St. Louis and back. He was a major influence on Springfield locally and on state government issues. He spoke to the annual dinner of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC. on Jan. 17, 1940.

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Illinois State Society Float 1954
This Illiniois State Society float was part of a night-time lighted Cherry Blossom Festival parade in the central shopping district on K Street, NW. The cherry blossom princess at the top of the float was Nancy Rainville from Chicago whose father Harold Rainville was the manager for Sen. Everett Dirksen's Chicago office and his top poltical advisor in the state.

Barbara Joan Freeman, in white coat second from left, was the Illinois State Society Cherry Blossom Princess for 1950 to represent Illinois in the National Cherry Blossom Festival, a signature spring event in DC since about 1928. She is joined by cherry blossom princesses representing 12 other states. By tradition from 1948 to 2012, the U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen is selected by a random spin of a wheel of fortune with all the state names on it. The Queen is invited to visit Japan by the Japan Cherry Blossom Association.

According to the Washington Star for Jan. 20, 1969, more than 1,000 members and guests of the Illinois State Society gathered at the Gramercy Inn for a party to celebrate the Inauguration of President Richard M. Nixon.

Enjoying the party are from left to right, former Illinois State Society President Helen Lewis of Macomb, a board member for more than 50 years, and U.S. Senator Everett M. Dirksen at the podium. Mrs. Luella Dirksen and U.S. Senator Charles H. Percy are in the rear at right.

Our historical archives record that on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1967 about 200 ISS members attended the 1967 annual picnic of the Illinois State Society which was held at Timberlawn, the estate of members R. Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver in Rockville, Maryland. Shriver was a former executive for The Merchandise Mart in Chicago and a former president of the Chicago School Board. His brother-in-law was President John F. Kennedy and his son-in-law was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He served as Director of the Peace Corps and Ambassador to France. He also was the 1972 Democratic nominee for Vice President and Eunice led many charities.

Kate Springer of Springfield, Illinois was the daughter of Congressman and Mrs. William Springer, She was sponsored by the Illinois State Society to represent our state in the 1963 National Cherry Blossom Festival. She is shown at the ball escorted by Navy Lt. John F. Kennedy who by coincidence had the same name as President Kennedy but was no relation to that family from Massachusetts.

Former Illinois State Society President Virginia Blake is shown upper left in this group photo of the head table for the 1965 society dinner. Seated from left to right in the first row are Sen. Everett M. Dirksen, Gov. Otto Kerner, and Sen. Paul Douglas. The society will host a 100th birthday party Virginia Blake this coming Wednesday night at the Capitol Hill Club in DC.

Dr. Carl E. Pruett was a Navy Captain who served as President of the Illinois State Society from 1969 to 1970. He was Director of Space Medicine for NASA. Capt. Pruett served 30 years in the Navy before his retirement in 1973 as assistant for medical and allied sciences to the deputy chief of naval operations.Later assignments included sea duty as a flight surgeon in the Pacific and service as chief of the biomedical division of the Air Force Aero Medical Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.

In 1958 Capt. Pruett was assigned to Point Mugu, Calif., where he helped establish the Pacific Missile Bioscience Office and Life Science Department of the Naval Missile Center. He became a medical monitor for Project Mercury in 1962, and in that capacity served as medical monitor for the earth-orbiting flight of Marine Col. John Glenn.

A resident of McLean, he was born in Kinmundy, Ill., in Marion County and attended the University of Illinois where he received a medical degree in 1943. He was a graduate of the Naval School of Aviation Medicine and served in Washington from 1953 to 1955 as aviation medical safety specialist in the office of the deputy chief of naval operations for air.

At left is Glee Gomien and at right is John Gomien who were both top aides to Senator Everett M. Dirksen for many years. Glee was personal secretary to Dirksen when he was Minority Leader of the Senate in his Capitol Office and John was administrative assistant for the state office in the Old Senate Office Building which is now called the Dirksen Senate Office Building. John later became the manager of the Capitol Hill Club after Sen. Dirksen died in 1969. This picture was taken at the annual Illinois State Society Dinner in 1954.

Illinois Congressional Delegation at Illinois State Society Party in their honor on Sept. 22, 1974. Left to right in the bottom row are Congressman Morgan Murphy, Dan Rostenkowski, Harold Collier, Les Arends, Ken Gray, Melvin Price, Bob McClory, and Ed Derwinski. Top row from left are Tom Railsback, Bob Michel, Bob Hanrahan, Sam Young, Ralph Metcalfe, Frank Annunzio, Phil Crane, and George O'Brien.

Congressman Abner Mikva greets our 1976 Princess Jill Golden at the Illinois State Society reception in her honor. Congressman Mikva served two different times in Congress representing two completely different districts on the south and north sides of Chicago. He was Chief Judge of the DC Court of Appeals and Counsel to President Clinton 1994-1995. He was an active member of the Illinois State Society for many years and helped to organize trips to Baltimore to see the Chicago White Sox play when they were in town.

1978 Illinois State Society Board of Directors with officers: Ralph Golden, Helen Lewis, Marie McQueen, Sen. Chuck Percy, Violet Watka, Dave Jenkins, Marve Boruff, and Virginia Blake.

Congressman Ralph Metcalfe of Chicago was an active member of the Illinois State Society during his service in Congress from 1971 to 1978. He attended the reception for President Ford on Sept. 22, 1974. He was a businessman and former Olympic Gold Medal winner for running a relay at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Just like in days of yesteryear, Illinois State Society President Dave Jenkins plays the piano and leads the singing at a 1978 party as Violet Watka and Marve Boruff sing along. The position of song leader was always an important one from the 1920s to the 1960s. One song leader was the 1938 ISS President Frank Sanderson from Pana who was Chief Administrator of the White House for thirty-one years. Another great song leader was 1966 ISS President and Congressman Bob Michel.

1989 Illinois Inaugural Gala with Lynn Martin, Mark Rhoads, Jeanne Jacob, Gov. Jim Thompson, Jim Brady , State Sen. David Barkhausen, Michael J. Howlett, , State Rep. Frank Watson, Cong. Dennis Hastert, State Sen. Adeline Geokaris of Waukegan, Cong. Phil Crane of Mount Prospect.

On Jan. 19, 1985, the Illinois State Society hosted its quadrennial nonpartisan Inaugural Gala at the National Press Club. Pictured at left is ISS officer Admiral Jim Carey, Chairman of the Maritme Commission, as he takes on master of ceremonies role at the 1985 Illinois State Society Inaugural Gala celebrating the second Inauguration of Illinois native President Ronald Reagan from Dixon. ISS board member Jeanne Jacob of Mendota is in back of the podium with another ISS officer.

Mike Howlett and Gov. Thompson with Award
Let to right: Former Illinois Secretary of State Michael J. Howlett (D-Chicago) receives the Illinois State Society Outstanding Public Service Award from the society's honorary Chair, Gov. James R. Thompson (R-Chicago) at the Society's Inagural Gala on Jan. 19, 1989.

Howlett and Thompson were opposing candidates for governor of Illinois in 1976. Mike Howlett had a long and distinguished record of public service to Illinois. He served as Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts for 12 years from 1961 to 1973 and as Secretary of State for four years from 1973 to 1977. As a young man, Mike played water polo for the Illinois Athletic Club and was on ten championship teams. He served in the Navy in World War II.

Rep. Cardiss Collins (D-Chicago) was president of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC from 1995 to 1996. She first came to the U.S. House after the tragic loss of her husband Rep. George Collins in a plane crash in Chicago in December 1972. Mrs. Collins was born Cardiss Hortense Robertson in St. Louis, Mo., September 24, 1931; graduated from Detroit High School of Commerce, Detroit, Mich.; attended Northwestern University; secretary, accountant, and auditor for Illinois department of revenue; committeewoman of Chicago’s twenty-fourth ward; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-third Congress, by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, United States Representative George W. Collins, and reelected to the eleven succeeding Congresses (June 5, 1973-January 3, 1997).

Sen. Barack Obama at the 2005 Inaugural Gala joins Dr. Mona Khana, former Illinois Cherry Blossom Princess for 1987.

The Illinois State Society is the proud recipient of the 2019 Haines Award
and is a founding member of the National Conference of State Societies.

Illinois State Society | Mailing Address: P.O. Box 320776, Alexandria, VA. 22310 | ILStateSociety@gmail.com
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