RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz has been called to eternal life by the wisdom of God at the age of 102; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of her passing by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz was the last known survivor of the 1915 Eastland disaster which claimed 844 lives when the ship capsized in the Chicago River; and
WHEREAS, A longtime resident of Berwyn, Marion Eichholz was the beloved sister of Shirley Clifford and the late Iris Eich; and
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz was the dear aunt of Kathleen, Regina, Tim, Terry, Christine, Dan and Maureen and the great-aunt of seven; and
WHEREAS, On July 24,1915, Marion Eichholz was just three years old when she boarded the Eastland along with her parents, Anna and Fred, an employee at the Western Electric plant in Cicero; and
WHEREAS, The steamer, carrying 2,500 passengers and headed for a company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana, listed and overturned in twenty feet of water just west of the Clark Street Bridge; and
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz was thrown against a railing, but was saved when her father grabbed her and swam to shore; and
WHEREAS, Both of her parents survived the tragedy which was memorialized with a plaque erected by the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, The tragedy marked the largest loss of life on the Great Lakes stemming from a single marine disaster; and
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz graduated from what is now Morton East High School and worked for forty years in the payroll department of Balaban and Kats at the Chicago Theatre and retired in her sixties; and
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz taught Sunday school for 52 years and lived for decades with her younger sister, Iris, in a two-bedroom bungalow once owned by her parents; and
WHEREAS, Marion Eichholz will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by her many relatives, friends and admirers; and
WHEREAS, To her beloved family, Marion Eichholz imparts a legacy of faithfulness, service and dignity; now, therefor...
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