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Person

John Wayne "Johnny" Gillespie

Also John Gillespie · Johnny Gillespie · John W. Gillespie

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Active
fl. 1967–1974
Work
Supervisor, Saint James Township
Spouse
Jeanne Marie Gillespie
Parents
Jewell F. Gillespie · Rita M. Gillespie
Children
Rene Therese Gillespie · Heather Marie Gillespie
Siblings
Robert J. Gillespie · Richard Lynn "Richie" Gillespie · Daniel G. "Danny" Gillespie · William "Billy" F. Gillespie · Mary T. Palmer · Julie A. Gillespie
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
governancecommunityfamilydemography
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

John Wayne “Johnny” Gillespie, a son of Jewell and Rita Gillespie, married Jeanne Marie Wojan at Holy Cross Church in 1967 and served as Saint James Township supervisor from at least November 1974 into 1976. The Beaver Beacon names him under both “Johnny” and “John” across repeated snowmobile trips, school notices and birth announcements for his children Dana Sue, Heather Marie and Rene Therese Gillespie.

History

A November 1957 Beacon item places “Johnny” Gillespie, as a boy, among the Beaver Island School’s “Trail Blazers” hiking group with his brothers Billy and Robert.1 In February 1966 he served as best man at the wedding of a St. James couple — a daughter of Jack Martin marrying a son of Clarence Palmer — with Jeanne Wogan, his future wife, as maid of honor at the same ceremony.2 A shower for Jeanne Wojan was held November 16, 1967, ahead of her marriage that November 25 to John Gillespie at Holy Cross Church; his brother William Gillespie was best man, and brothers Robert Gillespie and Ronald Wojan were ushers. The couple planned to make St. James their home.34

Their first child, Dana Sue, was born April 26, 1969, weighing 6 lb. 4 oz. — the first grandchild in each family, for Walter and Mrs. Wojan and for Jewell and Rita Gillespie.5 That December, a Beacon item names “Don Cole and Johnny Gillespie” as the men keeping the island’s main roads plowed through the winter, including the route to the airport.6

By August 1972 Gillespie was airlifted by helicopter to Little Traverse Hospital after a fall from a telephone pole, returning home on crutches.7 The family’s children continue to appear across the Beacon’s birth and sacrament notices through the 1970s: Heather Marie was born 5 May 1972, with both sets of grandparents — Jewell and Rita Gillespie, and Walter and Mrs. Wojan — named as “proud”;8 Dana Sue made her First Communion on 8 May 1977;9 and Rene Therese was born 19 November 1975 at the Beaver Island Medical Center.10 A 1975 school-enrollment note counts “the John Gillespies” among several young island families whose children were reaching school age.11

Gillespie is listed as Saint James Township supervisor in a table of township officers published in November 1974, alongside clerk Vivian Visscher and treasurer Donald Cole.12 He was still described as “St. James township supervisor” in a May 1976 Beacon report on a bond sale to finance airport improvements, and a November 1978 township officer listing again names “John Gillespie” as supervisor, extending his known tenure at least four years.1314 By April 1979 he was separately serving as chairman of the Beaver Island Medical Center’s governing board, which that month announced a new state agreement to fund a full-time physician and adopted a new clinic fee schedule.15 The following April, when a house fire broke out near the Erin Motel, Gillespie was one of the first men on the scene and drove to the airport to bring the second fire truck, while others pumped water from the harbor through holes augered in the ice.16

He and his wife also appear repeatedly among Beaver Island’s Naubinway ice-crossing snowmobile parties, in March 1972, February 1974 — the same February 1974 issue that places “John Gillespie” sixth in a cross-country snowmobile race, confirming the two name forms as one person — and February 1977 and 1979, the last as “John and Jeanne Gillespie.”17 A March 1978 account of a similar snowmobile crossing to Naubinway names “Johnny Gillespie” among a group that turned back partway across the ice-covered shipping channel rather than completing the crossing with the rest of the party.18

Gillespie also captained a boat, the American Girl, associated with a family-operated dock (“Gillespie’s boat dock”) on the island. A December 1979 first-person account, written by a visitor and printed in the Beacon, describes a group of islanders and Christmas travelers stranded by dense fog being brought safely from Charlevoix to Beaver Island by “Captain John Gillespie and his crew,” piloting what the writer jokingly called “the ‘refugee boat,’” navigating by compass and radar through fog thick enough that only the light on the Charlevoix bridge was visible.19

Significance

Gillespie’s tenure as Saint James Township supervisor, extending from at least November 1974 into November 1978, places him among the elected officials who ran island local government through the mid-to-late 1970s, including the period when the two townships jointly financed improvements to the Beaver Island Airport. His subsequent chairmanship of the Medical Center board and his boat’s role in the December 1979 rescue of stranded travelers extend that record of civic involvement into health care and transportation as well as township government. His record also illustrates a recurring pattern in the Beacon’s coverage of this family: the same man is named “Johnny” in youth, social, and outdoor-recreation notices and “John” in official and civic ones, sometimes within the same issue.

Open questions

  • Whether the August 1972 telephone-pole fall was connected to any occupation (the source does not say why he was on the pole) is not known.
  • When did Gillespie’s term as township supervisor end, and who succeeded him?
  • What is the history of “Gillespie’s boat dock” and the American Girl — was this a commercial charter, a family vessel, or both?

If you can answer any of these, or correct anything above, the archive wants to hear it — see Corrections.

See also

Sources

See also the full sources: block above.

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, November 1957, “Trail Blazers.” ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, February 1966, wedding report. ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, November 1967, “Bridal Shower.” ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, December 1967, “Weddings: Gillespie–Wojan.” ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, May 1969, “Births.” ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, December 1968, community column. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, August 1972, “Hospital Notes.” ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, May 1972, “Births.” ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, May 1977, “First Communion and May Crowning.” ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, November 1975, “Births.” ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, August 1975, school-enrollment note. ↩

  12. Beaver Beacon, November 1974, table of St. James Township officers. ↩

  13. Beaver Beacon, May 1976, airport bond report. ↩

  14. Beaver Beacon, November 1978, township officer listing. ↩

  15. Beaver Beacon, April 1979, Beaver Island Medical Center board report. ↩

  16. Beaver Beacon, April 1980, house-fire report. ↩

  17. Beaver Beacon, March 1972, February 1974, February 1977 and February 1979, snowmobile-crossing notices. ↩

  18. Beaver Beacon, March 1978, ice-travelers report. ↩

  19. Beaver Beacon, December 1979, first-person account by Roger Sommer. ↩

Kin

Jewell F.Gillespie1917 – 1995Rita M.Gillespie1927 – 1988Daniel G."Danny" GillespieJulie A.GillespieMary T. PalmerRichard Lynn"Richie" Gillespieb. 1955Robert J.Gillespie1950 – 2015William "Billy"F. GillespieThis articleJohn Wayne"Johnny" GillespieJeanne MarieGillespieHeather MarieGillespieb. 1972Rene ThereseGillespieb. 1975
Only relations stated in the sources are drawn; absence means unrecorded, not childless or unmarried.

The dated record

2 dated events · 1967–1975These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Names John Wayne Gillespie as the November 25, 1967 Holy Cross groom, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jewell Gillespie, marrying Jeanne Marie Wojan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wojan; the couple planned to make St. James their home.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-12_Beaver-Beacon
  2. Names John Gillespie as Rene Therese Gillespie's father, born November 19 to John Gillespie and Jeanne Wogan. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-11_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Reports the John Gillespies among several young island families whose children were reaching school age that fall, alongside three newly arrived families; total school enrollment that year was 57. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-08_Beaver-Beacon
  4. Names "Johnny, Billy & Robert Gillespie" among the school hiking group, establishing him as a child of the Gillespie family alongside his brothers. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1957-11_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Announces the May 5 birth of daughter Heather Marie to "Mr. and Mrs. John Gillespie," with Jewell and Rita Gillespie and Walter and (unnamed) Wojan as grandparents.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-05_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Reports John Gillespie was taken by helicopter to Little Traverse Hospital after a fall from a telephone pole, and returned home on crutches.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-08_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Names Dana Sue Gillespie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Gillespie, as a First Communion recipient on May 8, 1977. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-05_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Lists John Gillespie as St. James Township Supervisor, with Vivian Visscher as clerk and Donald Cole as treasurer.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Quotes "John Gillespie, St. James township supervisor," on an airport-improvement bond sale, showing him still in the office in 1976. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-05_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Names "Johnny Gillespie" (1972), "Johnny Gillespie" among the 1974 travelers, and "John Gillespie" among the 1977 travelers on repeated Naubinway ice crossings.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-03_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Names "Johnny Gillespie" among the February 14 Naubinway travelers and "John Gillespie" placing sixth in the January 27 cross-country snowmobile race — the same man under both name forms in the same issue.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Reports "John and Jeanne Gillespie" catching up with a snowmobile safari already underway, confirming the couple's continuing island residence. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1979-02_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Names John Gillespie as best man and Jeanne Wogan as maid of honor at the wedding of a daughter of Jack Martin to a son of Clarence Palmer, both of St. James, over a year before Gillespie and Wogan/Wojan's own marriage.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1966-02_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Reports a November 16, 1967 bridal shower for Jeanne Wojan ahead of her November 25 marriage to John Gillespie, naming the hostesses.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-11_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Announces the April 26, 1969 birth of Dana Sue Gillespie, 6 lb. 4 oz., first grandchild for both the Wogan and Gillespie families.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-05_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Names Don Cole and Johnny Gillespie as the men keeping the island's main roads, including the airport route, plowed that winter.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1968-12_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Lists "Supervisor - John Gillespie" among St. James Township officers, extending his documented tenure beyond the 1976 bond report. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-11_Beaver-Beacon
  18. Names John Gillespie as Chairman of the Beaver Island Medical Center board, alongside Carolyn Esch, Rose Connaghan, Mark LaFreniere, Phyllis Moore, Edward Palmer, and Marge Wagner, reporting a new state physician-funding agreement and fee schedule. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1979-04_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Reports John Gillespie among the first responders to a house fire near the Erin Motel, driving to the airport for the second fire truck while others pumped harbor water through holes augered in the ice. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-04_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Names Johnny Gillespie, with Buz Anderson and Jerry LaFreniere, turning back partway across the shipping channel during a snowmobile crossing to Naubinway, rather than completing the crossing with the rest of the party. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-03_Beaver-Beacon
  21. A visitor's account describes "Captain John Gillespie and his crew" piloting the boat American Girl from Charlevoix to Beaver Island through dense fog, bringing home islanders and Christmas travelers; mentions "Gillespie's boat dock" on the island. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1979-12_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “John Wayne "Johnny" Gillespie”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/john-wayne-johnny-gillespie/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, December 1967, “Weddings: Gillespie–Wojan.” (and 20 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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