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2023 SESSION

23106141D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 743
Offered February 17, 2023
Celebrating the life of Doris Carson.
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Patrons-- Kilgore; Senator: Pillion
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WHEREAS, Doris Carson, a respected financial professional and community leader in Lee County, died on January 28, 2023; and

WHEREAS, Doris “Jill” Carson grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, and began her career with the insurance company Prudential Financial in Boston, Massachusetts; and

WHEREAS, Jill Carson relocated to Southwest Virginia to raise her family and accepted a new job as financial officer of Lee County’s Head Start program and later contracted with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to review Head Start programs across the country; and

WHEREAS, in the late 1980s, Jill Carson and her husband, Ron, cofounded the Appalachian African-American Cultural Center in Pennington Gap; in 1995, she became a founding member of the Virginia Organizing Project, a nonpartisan, grassroots community service organization based in Charlottesville; and

WHEREAS, through the Virginia Organizing Project, Jill Carson participated in efforts to reform the jury selection process in the region, restore voting rights to nonviolent felons in the Commonwealth, and reopen the only hospital in Lee County; and

WHEREAS, Jill Carson maintained her commitment to public service in later life; she was a founding member of the Pennington Gap Industrial Development Authority in 2012, was first elected to the Pennington Gap Town Council in 2014, and served as vice mayor of Pennington Gap in 2019; and

WHEREAS, most recently, Jill Carson was appointed to the executive committee of the Virginia Municipal League, served as vice president of the organization, and then became its president in 2022; and

WHEREAS, among many awards and accolades, Jill Carson received the President’s Volunteer Service Award from President Joseph R. Biden and recognition from the 400 Years of African American History Commission; and

WHEREAS, Jill Carson enjoyed fellowship and worship with the congregation of Wells Chapel Church in Pennington Gap, where she sang in the choir; and

WHEREAS, Jill Carson will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her husband of 45 years, Ron; her children, Kevin and Alexis, and their families; and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Doris Carson; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Doris Carson as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for her memory.