RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, RICHARD EARL MASON, was born November 23, 1934 in Washington, D.C, and was raised by friends and relatives after the death of his mother when he was in the second grade;
WHEREAS, Richard left Washington, D.C. for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at age 16 after making the decision to strike out on his own;
WHEREAS, Richard and a high school friend found work in the construction industry digging ditches, and at the age of 17 he was a bus boy in the hotel industry making very little money;
WHEREAS, after working various jobs and questioning his direction in life, Richard decided to enlist in the United States Air Force from 1952 to 1956, after which he was honorably discharged;
WHEREAS, Richard returned to Harrisburg, PA in 1957 where he applied for, and was accepted to Central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio;
WHEREAS, Richard met and married his first wife in 1958 while attending Central State and, after their freshman year, moved to Chicago, Illinois to start a family;
WHEREAS, after Richard's first son was born in 1958, he began his first "real job" at the U.S. Postal Service, and three years later his second son was born;
WHEREAS, after his divorce in 1996, Richard found a second job as a Teacher's Aide at Hyde Park High School, but also decided to complete his education in order to fulfill a void in his life;
WHEREAS, Richard enrolled at Roosevelt University in 1973 as a part-time student and, after ten glorious years, earned both his Bachelor and Master's Degrees by 1983;
WHEREAS, Richard retired from the U.S. Post Office in 1993 at the age of 58;
WHEREAS, Richard met his second wife, Konora Maxwell-Mason, in 1996 and they were married in December 2000 - years that he says "have been the best years of his life;"
WHEREAS, Richard retired from his job as a Teacher's Aide at Hyde Park High School in 2004;
WHEREAS, Richard began his community involvement after retirement by attending CAPS meetings at the 004th Police District in Chicago, IL and ...
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