MEMORIAL RESOLUTION FOR WILLIAM D. GAINER
WHEREAS, it is with great sadness that members of this Chamber learned of the death of William "Bill" Gainer on Saturday March 16th, 2019 at the age of seventy-nine; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has been informed of his passing by the Honorable Margaret Laurino, Alderman of the 39th Ward; and
WHEREAS, Bill was born in Chicago on December 26, 1939 to loving parents, the late Dorothy Quinn and William Gainer, a second generation Chicago police officer; and
WHEREAS, Bill was raised, along with his six brothers and sisters, in the Roseland community on Chicago's far south side and graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep in 1958 at the age of 16; and
WHEREAS, Bill found his calling early in life when he started working at Illinois Bell in 1960. The following year he joined the Army where he ran phone lines through Texas in the 261st Signal Construction Corps; and
WHEREAS, Bill met the wonderful woman who would become his wife, Gerry at Duffy's Tavern in 1964, beginning what would become a lifetime of shared memories and a shining example of a blessed marriage and partnership; and
WHEREAS, after returning from military service, Bill rejoined Illinois Bell and continued his employment at the company for nearly fifty years, including through its transitions to Ameritech and then AT&T. Bill began as a lineman and worked his way up through every operation of the company -eventually serving as the Director of Government Relations, overseeing some of the biggest events in Chicago that required coordination with AT&T; and
WHEREAS, Bill leveraged his place in the business community with his beloved Irish heritage and became an active member in the City of Chicago and Cork County, Ireland Trade Missions. In October, 2001, Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Bill as Chairman of the Galway/Chicago Sisters Cities International Program Committee; and
WHEREAS, Bill tremendously enhanced commercial and cultural links between Cook and Cork County ...
Click here for full text