Local Chicagoans Mourns The Lost of 109 Year Old Rosie Lee Atchison

Rosie Atchison
Rosie Atchison

Local Chicagoans Mourns The Lost of 109 Year Old Rosie Lee Atchison

 HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ROSIE LEE ATCHISON 
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS) for 5 minutes.
    Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, to live to become 109 years old in this country, or any country, as a matter of fact, is quite a feat.
     Such has been the life and legacy of Mrs. Rosie Atchison, who was born on August 15, 1911, in Bolivar, Mississippi, and passed away on November 23, 2020. 
     Her birth mother passed away when Rosie  was just 6 weeks old. She was taken into the care of her father, Mr. Henry Liner, who raised her as the second oldest of 27 children whom he fathered. Rosie grew up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where she lived a typical life of Blacks in that area. 
     She worked the fields, went to church, got married, had two children, lost a child, got tired of the fields and a failed marriage, and took her two children and migrated to Chicago, looking for a better life. That is exactly what she found. With faith in God, she joined the Greater Salem Missionary Baptist Church, where the renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was a member, and she also sang in the choir. She met and married her second husband, Mr. Andrew Atchison, who worked for the Diamond Glue Factory.
     She found a job cleaning railcars for the Pennsylvania Railroad and worked there until her retirement in 1970. Mrs. Atchison and her husband became very productive citizens and developed a reputation for helping others less fortunate than themselves.
      She became known to many as Big Mama, not because of her stature, but because she embraced any and everyone who needed help that she could help. She and her husband lived in the heart of the Bronzeville community until they were forced out to make room for the Illinois Institute of Technology. They protested and held marches around city hall but lost. After her husband died, she purchased a two-flat building in the Englewood community and kept on helping people. On November 23, 2020, after 109 years and 3 months, Rosie passed away, leaving 2 daughters; 15 grandchildren; 60 great-grandchildren; 95 great-greatgrandchildren; 24 great-great-greatgrandchildren; 1 sister, Ms. Josephine Liner Wilson; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and extended family. What a life and what a legacy.

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