2023 -- H 5155

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF JOHN D. GLASHEEN

     Introduced By: Representatives Tanzi, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Chippendale, McEntee,
Henries, Kennedy, Edwards, Handy, and Ajello

     Date Introduced: January 19, 2023

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness that this House has learned of the passing of John D.

Glasheen, a devoted husband, father, and a tireless advocate in support of social justice and

equality for all; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Glasheen grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts, a son of William

and Marion Glasheen. He attended and graduated from Deerfield Academy and Brown

University, where he played and starred in football; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Glasheen had a long and storied life as a community activist. He began

his public service career as a social studies teacher and football coach at Perkiomen School in

Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, and Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown,

Massachusetts. He later worked as a textbook developer and promoted and promulgated

wholesale changes in how history is taught to students. He was a PhD student at Harvard

University and was a popular Brown University instructor who tirelessly strove to provide better

educational opportunities to disadvantaged students from urban schools; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Glasheen’s community service career also included serving as the

former Executive Director of South County Community Action in the 1990s, where he led the

successful fight to build twenty units of affordable housing in Richmond, and his longtime

support of the Senior Agenda, where he served as Board Chair from 2012 to 2014; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Glasheen was a fixture at the State House, where he would be seen with

his fellow Unitarian Universalists activists fighting on behalf of social justice issues such as

affordable housing, sensible and reasonable gun regulations, and advocating in support of a

compassionate criminal justice and immigration system; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Glasheen also had a passion for live music, and enjoyed attending live

performances at the Met Café, Lupo’s, and Nick-a-Nees in Providence, and more recently in

Newport and at the Peace Dale Pump House. He was an active member of the Unitarian

Universalist Church of South County, and was active in the men’s group and spoke at many of

the Church’s Martin Luther King birthday celebrations, particularly about his meeting with

Martin Luther King in 1967; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Glasheen leaves behind his wife of 31 years, Susan Strakosch, his

children, Leah Glasheen and her husband, Matthew MacWilliams, John Glasheen and his wife,

Jiva, and Megan Glasheen. He also leaves behind his grandchildren Patrick MacWilliams,

Benjamin MacWilliams and his wife, Emily Field, Allegra MacWilliams, Chitra Lehka Glasheen,

and Simone Liu, and his many nieces, nephews and close friends; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of John D. Glasheen; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Susan Strakosch and Family.

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