Illinois State Senator Prescott E Bloom died in a house fire along with his 4 year old daughter Jennifer. They were buried together in the same casket. I believe Senator Bloom died while trying to save his daughter. He used to attend our block parties when I was growing up. Services were held at Wilton Mortuary in Peoria. Burial in Springdale Mausoleum.
Peb and I got to be friends as freshmnen in Sage B. So shortly after I moved to Chicago in 1985 I got in touch with him and we had lunch. Somehow he'd been elected and re-elected as a state senator despite his over-the-top ways, and I remember almost falling on the floor laughing when he referred to Illinois's then-governor, a very large Republican named James Thompson, as Jumbo.
I was at work at The Tribune the afternoon the horrible news came of Peb's death in a fire at his house. What a loss, to the people of Illinois, who he served with devotion; to our class, and to all people with senses of humor.
Tom Stites
Peb and I got to be friends as freshmnen in Sage B. So shortly after I moved to Chicago in 1985 I got in touch with him and we had lunch. Somehow he'd been elected and re-elected as a state senator despite his over-the-top ways, and I remember almost falling on the floor laughing when he referred to Illinois's then-governor, a very large Republican named James Thompson, as Jumbo.
I was at work at The Tribune the afternoon the horrible news came of Peb's death in a fire at his house. What a loss, to the people of Illinois, who he served with devotion; to our class, and to all people with senses of humor.