Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough remembered as trailblazer at Hyde Park memorial service

When Karen Yarbrough earned her seat at the table, she pulled up more chairs so others could join her.

That’s the legacy friends and family remembered during a memorial service for Yarbrough attended by hundreds at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

Yarbrough was a fixture in local politics, serving as a state lawmaker and later as the first Black person and first woman to serve as Cook County clerk. She was the treasurer of the Cook County Democratic Party. She died April 1 at age 73.

“When she defeated an obstacle, she did her best to clear the path again, wider each time, so that women like me can follow in her footsteps,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said. Stratton is the first African American to hold that office.

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“I often speak about the weight of being the first, or an only,” Stratton said. “It’s not a glamorous fate, but one that settles on your shoulders, constantly reminding you that one wrong step could land you on your face, crushed under the heaviness of watchful eyes. But Karen was never one to be crushed.”

Yarbrough’s niece and Cook County Circuit Court Judge Chloe Pedersen served as emcee for the memorial. A legion of elected officials sat in the pews, including Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Mayor Brandon Johnson and a host of Chicago City Council members.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she thought of Yarbrough as a mentor. Duckworth said Yarbrough took her under her wing as she campaigned for the Senate and taught her how to be a leader for all people.

“She challenged me, she also opened doors for me, helping me to learn how I could best serve all those who call this great city home, all those millions of folks whom she considered family,” Duckworth said. “She was a woman who broke barriers, then used her role to lift others up to join her.”

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Her influence even reached all the way to the White House. In a letter read at the service, Vice President Kamala Harris recalled Yarbrough as a barrier breaker.

“As the first Black woman to serve as Cook County clerk, she broke many barriers, and fully embodied the words that my mother often told me: you must be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last,” the letter said. “I am grateful for the profound contributions she made to the health, safety and well-being of her community and our country.”

Sen. Dick Durbin singled out Yarbrough’s legislative prowess when she was an Illinois state senator. He said Yarbrough was instrumental in passing the Smoke-Free Illinois Act in 2007, which banned smoking in all public places. Yarbrough was one of the sponsors of the bill.

She was also a key voice in Illinois abolishing the death penalty in 2011, Durbin said.

Durbin said Yarbrough was someone who wasn’t afraid to stand up for the underdogs and fight tough battles.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

“As recorder of deeds and then as the first Black person and first woman ever to serve as Cook County clerk, she took on the scammers that used deed fraud to try to steal family homes from grandmothers on the South Side,” Durbin said.

He also credited Yarbrough with helping many Democrats win public office, mentioning Jesse White’s first bid for Illinois secretary of state in 1998. Durbin said that although White could have won that election on his own, Yarbrough turned the race into a landslide.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker lauded Yarbrough for taking on the role of county clerk, saying the position “isn’t for the show-offs, it’s for the hard workers.”

“Karen never shied away from hard work, and she relished the challenges,” Pritzker said. “Her impact on this state will reverberate for many years to come, as it should. We will hold her dear and let her fuel our work and continue hers.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. senator and ambassador, who was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, delivered the eulogy.

Braun said she and Yarbrough commiserated over the scrutiny they experienced as Black women in positions of power, having to explain actions that would otherwise go unnoticed if done by their white male counterparts.

“But she survived all that and came out even stronger,” Braun said.