CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The late Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough was remembered at City Hall by her colleagues in a special Cook County Board meeting on Monday.
Among those in attendance: Cedric Giles, who’s been serving as acting Cook County Clerk since Yarbrough's death. Giles recognized the nearly two dozen employees of the clerk’s office — staff who served side by side with Yarbrough.
Before this acknowledgement, nearly all of the 17 county commissioners present, most of whom were choking back tears, shared their own unique experience with Yarbrough.
Yarbrough was not only the first woman elected to serve as Cook County Clerk, but she was also the first Black person in the post and encouraged others in their journeys to become first.
Josina Morita, the commissioner of Cook County’s 13th District, became the first Asian American woman to serve in her role in 2022.
“She said, ‘We got you,’” Morita said. “I remember showing up in her office one time, and there was a billboard, a 10-foot-tall billboard with my face on it.”
Bridget Gainer, county commissioner of the 10th District, had this to say:
“She was just someone who reached beyond the usual things that separated people to support anyone who was doing good work, so I will miss her very much,” Gainer said. “As they say: Her kind will not pass this way again.”
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi acknowledged his political disagreements with Yarbrough but added that they still found ways to work together productively.
“Karen was a person of her word,” Kaegi said. “Her word was her bond. When she was with you, she was with you, and when she was against you, she let you know it; I was in the latter category.”
During her long career in politics, Karen Yarbrough was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work abolishing the death penalty in Illinois. She also played a critical role in the banning of smoking indoors.
Yarbrough died last month at the age of 73, after being hospitalized with an undisclosed illness.
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