SLS 17RS-81 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 43
BY SENATOR COLOMB
CONDOLENCES. Expresses condolences upon the death of Willie F. Hawkins.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To express the sincere condolences of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the death of Willie
3 Floyd Hawkins, a committed volunteer and a public servant of rare dedication and
4 extraordinary capabilities who looked only to serve the people of Louisiana.
5 WHEREAS, Willie Floyd Hawkins was born on April 17, 1945, to Leslie V. and
6 Henrietta Harris in Ethel, Louisiana and died on September 17, 2016, at the age of
7 seventy-one; and
8 WHEREAS, Mr. Hawkins graduated from Southern University in 1965 with a
9 Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and served as a Vista Volunteer at Columbia
10 University, School of Social Work in 1966 and 1967; and
11 WHEREAS, following his time as a Vista Volunteer, Willie Hawkins served in the
12 United States Army and while stationed in Vietnam, he served with the Military Assistance
13 Command; and
14 WHEREAS, Mr. Hawkins was the recipient of the two and one-half year prestigious
15 Ford Foundation Fellowship Award in 1974; and
16 WHEREAS, Mr. Hawkins' career of public service spanned more than forty-two
17 years, serving the citizens of Louisiana, and Baton Rouge in particular, in the areas of higher
18 education, health care, and social services until his much deserved retirement on July 5,
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1 2013; and
2 WHEREAS, in 1978, Willie Hawkins began his public service as Executive Director
3 of the Eden Park Community Health Center and, later, as the administrator of East Baton
4 Rouge Parish Health Care Services; and
5 WHEREAS, also early in his professional career, Mr. Hawkins served several
6 non-profit organizations, including functioning as director of both the Health and Social
7 Services for Community Advancements Inc. and the Young Adult Offender Program for the
8 Community Corrections and Rehabilitation Center; and
9 WHEREAS, Willie Hawkins was named Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor
10 at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans-Health Care Services division, and CEO of the
11 Medical Center of Louisiana in New Orleans in July 1999, having previously served as
12 Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor at LSU Health Sciences Center from July 1997
13 to July 1999; and
14 WHEREAS, prior to his service with LSU, Mr. Hawkins served as the confidential
15 assistant to the CEO of the Louisiana Health Care Authority from November 1993 to August
16 1995, and January 1996 to July 1997; and
17 WHEREAS, under the Louisiana Health Care Authority, Willie Hawkins served as
18 the acting administrator of Earl K. Long Medical Center from August 1995 to January 1996,
19 and as assistant administrator from April 1984 to November 1993; and
20 WHEREAS, prior to his retirement on July 5, 2013, from LSU as the Director of
21 Institutional Relations, a job he began in February 2004, Mr. Hawkins could be found on any
22 given day, at any given hour, navigating patients through the often complicated Louisiana
23 health care system; and
24 WHEREAS, Mr. Hawkins provided professional administrative leadership in public
25 health care for many years and he personally ensured that thousands of patients were able
26 to obtain medical appointments and emergency treatment regardless of their ability to pay;
27 and
28 WHEREAS, Willie Hawkins was known to all who served as city, parish, or state
29 officials, all city-parish department heads, and community leaders and he continued on a
30 firsthand basis with those who served the citizens of Louisiana, such was his dedication to
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1 his state and its people; and
2 WHEREAS, Mr. Hawkins was extremely instrumental in securing from the Brown
3 family, the donation of property that make up strategic parts of the new medical clinic and
4 urgent care center campus in North Baton Rouge; and
5 WHEREAS, for over forty-two years Willie Floyd Hawkins put the health care
6 education and social services that were needed by any and every Louisianian above his own
7 concerns, and with his death Louisiana has lost a treasure of the caliber that the state may
8 never see again.
9 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
10 express sincere condolences upon the death of Willie Floyd Hawkins, a dedicated volunteer
11 and longtime public servant.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
13 Claudia Davis Hawkins, wife of Willie Floyd Hawkins.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Mary Dozier O'Brien.
DIGEST
SCR 43 Original 2017 Regular Session Colomb
Expresses condolences upon the death of Willie Floyd Hawkins.
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