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Person

Robert J. Gillespie

Also Robert Gillespie · Robert J. Gillespie · Bob Gillespie · Rapid Robert · Robert Jewell Gillespie

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
Born1950
Died2015
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Born
1950
Died
2015
Work
Founder and owner, Beaver Gems (later Beaver Gems, Inc.) · General contractor · Airport manager, Beaver Island Airport · Chairman, Marine Museum project, Beaver Island Historical Society · Chairman, Grounds Committee, Beaver Lodge Golf Club
Spouse
Carol Lee Gatliff
Parents
Jewell F. Gillespie · Rita M. Gillespie
Siblings
John Wayne "Johnny" Gillespie · Richard Lynn "Richie" Gillespie · Daniel G. "Danny" Gillespie · William "Billy" F. Gillespie · Mary T. Palmer · Julie A. Gillespie
Member of
Beaver Gems · Beaver Island Historical Society
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
economytourismcommunityconstructionmaritimeheritagefamilyreligion
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Robert J. Gillespie (1950–2015), whose family announced his death in July 2015 after complications during surgery, was a son of Jewell and Rita Gillespie, founded the Beaver Gems shipwreck-furniture shop on Beaver Island in 1968 and built it into a decades-running contracting business that constructed several of the island’s public buildings. In the 1970s he also managed the Beaver Island Airport, coordinating construction of its emergency-aircraft hangar and its annual Fly-In, and he joined a February 1974 snowmobile crossing to Naubinway. He married Carol Lee Gatliff in 1975 and Lisa Vance in 1991.

History

Gillespie grew up on Beaver Island as one of the thirteen children of Jewell and Rita Gillespie; a 1957 Beacon item names him, as a boy, among the school’s “Trail Blazers” hiking group alongside his brothers Johnny and Billy.1 In August 1965 he broke his thigh in a water-skiing accident, prompting the paper to call him “Rapid Robert” and the “Hard Luck Kid” and to recount two earlier mishaps — a truck collision with a tree and a near amputation with an axe.2 He was an usher, “brother of the groom,” at brother John Wayne Gillespie’s 1967 wedding, where sister Mary Gillespie was a bridesmaid.3

In 1968 Gillespie joined Mike and Jon Fogg in opening Beaver Gems, a shop selling furniture made from oak salvaged from Great Lakes shipwrecks around the archipelago; by 1970 he and Jon Fogg were its listed operators, and by the 1973 season Gillespie ran it alone, with Gail Gatliff tending the shop.4 A February 1976 fire in the workshop, caused by an overheated stove, damaged the building and the living quarters behind it before high-school boys under fire officer Bill Wagner put it out; the Beacon named Gillespie and “Carol” as grateful the building was saved at all.5 The business continued for decades under the Beaver Gems name – an August 1983 notice records the Sweet Adelines selling raffle tickets for “the beautiful shipwreck furniture made by Robert Gillespie”6 – and by the 2000s, as Beaver Gems, Inc., it was the general contractor for the Beaver Island Rural Health Center, the PABI Community Center, a Beaver Island Community School construction project, and Central Michigan University’s Biological Station building.7

Gillespie’s golf involvement predates his committee chairmanship: an October 1971 report credits him with winning a Beaver Lodge tournament trophy donated by Dr. John Ludwig, alongside Timmy McDonough’s Junior Championship that same season.8 He went on to chair the Beaver Lodge Golf Club’s Grounds Committee and manage its driving range in the early 1970s.9 From at least November 1974 he was Beaver Island’s airport manager: he supervised the volunteer construction of an emergency-aircraft hangar for the medical evacuation plane The Beaver, coordinated the annual Fly-In in 1974 and 1975, and served as liaison to the state Aeronautics Commission.10 The November 1974 Fly-In report describes about 450 visitors, a Game Club whitefish dinner, and television coverage, and calls Gillespie, as airport manager, a “noted shipwreck historian” already planning the following year’s event.11 He flew in to join a February 1974 snowmobile crossing to Naubinway, Michigan, that a group of other Islanders, including his brothers, made across the ice.12 He and Jewell Gillespie both towed vessels during the Oil Queen capsizing recovery of 1973, though the Beacon’s account credits the tow itself to Jewell in the American Girl.13 In 1976 he chaired the Historical Society’s project to convert the old Martin net shed into a Marine Museum.14

On 29 November 1975 the Beacon’s wedding notice, printed under his full name “Robert Jewell Gillespie, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jewell Gillespie, of Beaver Island,” reports his marriage to Carol Lee Gatliff at Holy Cross Church, with sisters Julie and Mary Gillespie as bridesmaids, brother Richie Gillespie as groomsman, and niece Heather Gillespie as flower girl.15 On 25 May 1991 the Beacon reported his marriage to Lisa Vance at the Beaver Island Christian Church.16 Jewell Gillespie’s December 1995 obituary lists “Robert J. Gillespie and his wife Lisa, of Beaver Island” among his surviving children, confirming both the parentage and the later marriage.17 The Holy Cross Cemetery index carries both marriages on a single entry – “Gillespie, Robert J.,” 1950–2015, married to “Carol Gatliff & Lisa Vance,” son of Jewell and Rita O’Donnell Gillespie.18

Significance

Gillespie’s Beaver Gems is one of the longer-running Beaver Island businesses documented in the Beacon, and its shipwreck-salvage furniture connected the island’s tourist trade directly to its maritime history. His parallel record as airport manager and later as the contractor for the island’s medical center, community center and school placed him at the center of several of the public building projects the Beacon covered across four decades.

Evidence and limits

This article merges four records that a prior pass had deliberately kept separate pending an identity check: the 1974 airport-manager notices, the 1974 Naubinway snowmobile-trip notice, and the 1975 wedding notice under the full name “Robert Jewell Gillespie.” None of the shared name, the shared 1974–1975 date range, or the shared events is by itself evidence of one man – a small island puts everyone at the same events, and this family alone produced two adult Robert Gillespies (see below). What settles it is a converging bridge from independent sources:

  • Same spouse and parents, one cemetery entry. The Holy Cross Cemetery index carries a single entry, “Gillespie, Robert J.,” 1950–2015, “m. Carol Gatliff & Lisa Vance; p. Jewell & Rita O’Donnell Gillespie.”18 That one line ties together what the newspaper reports as two separate marriages twenty years apart (1975 to Carol Lee Gatliff, 1991 to Lisa Vance) and fixes the parentage already established from the 1965, 1967 and 1995 notices – it is the same kind of source-states-it-outright bridge used for Joseph L. “Bud” McDonough.
  • Same siblings, named by name. The February 1974 Naubinway trip lists “Johnny Gillespie, Richie Gillespie, … and flying in just to make the trip was Robert Gillespie” – the same brothers, John Wayne and Richard “Richie” Gillespie, who are independently established elsewhere in this article as this Robert Gillespie’s siblings (the 1967 wedding notice, the 1975 wedding party).12
  • A distinguishing occupational descriptor, not just a shared job title. The November 1974 Fly-In report does not merely name an “Airport Manager Robert Gillespie” – it calls him, in the same sentence, a “noted shipwreck historian,”11 which is not a generic description but points specifically at the founder of Beaver Gems, the shipwreck-oak furniture business.

A real namesake exists in the same family and was checked and ruled out. The cemetery index also lists “Gillespie, Robert ‘Speck,’” 1922–1999, son of Francis “Ket” and Mary Ann Boyle Gillespie – Jewell Gillespie’s brother, and so this man’s uncle. Every Beacon mention of him found in this pass (1956, 1957, 1965) calls him “Speck” or “Norman Robert ‘Speck,’” never bare “Robert Gillespie,” and by 1995 he lived in Gaylord, off-island.19 No 1970s notice read here uses “Robert Gillespie” for anyone but Jewell and Rita’s son.

Open questions

  • Whether his contracting work operated continuously as “Beaver Gems” or was formally reorganized as “Beaver Gems, Inc.” at a specific date is not resolved.
  • No source read here states whether the 1975 marriage to Carol Lee Gatliff ended before the 1991 marriage to Lisa Vance, or gives any reason for the change; both marriages are reported factually and without further comment.
  • The cemetery index’s “obit” marker implies a 2015 obituary exists; it has not been located or read for this article.

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, September 1965, “Rapid Robert Bites the Surf.” ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, December 1967, “Weddings: Gillespie - Wojan.” ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, July 1968, June 1970 and July 1973 Beaver Gems business notices. ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, February 1976, “Fire Call.” ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, August 1983, “Sweet Adelines” notice. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, April 2003 through 2009, Beaver Island Rural Health Center, Community Center and Community School construction reports. ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, October 1971, “Golf Notes.” ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, March 1972 and May 1973, Beaver Lodge Golf Club notes. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, November 1974, December 1974, February 1975 and October 1975, Fly-In and hangar-construction notices. ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, November 1974, Fly-In report. ↩ ↩2

  12. Beaver Beacon, February 1974, “Ice Trip To U. P.” ↩ ↩2

  13. Beaver Beacon, July 1973, “Disaster Averted.” ↩

  14. Beaver Beacon, July 1976, Marine Museum committee report. ↩

  15. Beaver Beacon, November 1975, “Weddings: Gillespie–Gatliff.” ↩

  16. Beaver Beacon, June 1991, wedding notice. ↩

  17. Beaver Beacon, December 1995, “Jewell F. Gillespie, 78” (obituary). ↩

  18. Holy Cross Cemetery index, Beaver Island Historical Society. ↩ ↩2

  19. Beaver Beacon, April 1956, “The Sailors”; April 1957, sailing notice; April 1965, hospital notice. ↩

Kin

Jewell F.Gillespie1917 – 1995Rita M.Gillespie1927 – 1988Daniel G."Danny" GillespieJohn Wayne"Johnny" GillespieJulie A.GillespieMary T. PalmerRichard Lynn"Richie" Gillespieb. 1955William "Billy"F. GillespieThis articleRobert J.Gillespie1950 – 2015Carol LeeGatliff
Only relations stated in the sources are drawn; absence means unrecorded, not childless or unmarried.

The dated record

8 dated events · 1950–2015These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Identifies Robert Gillespie as operating Beaver Gems in its 1973 season, with Gail Gatliff tending the shop.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  2. Identifies Robert Gillespie as the operator of the Beaver Gems workshop damaged by the February 4 fire, and names Carol as his household partner. 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 · 1976-02_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Identifies Robert Gillespie as "son of Rita and Jewell Gillespie," gives him the nickname "Rapid Robert" and the "Hard Luck Kid," and reports a severe thigh fracture in a water-skiing accident that August.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-09_Beaver-Beacon
  4. Names "the Fogg boys, Mike and Jon, and Robert Gillespie" as operators of the newly opened Beaver Gems, selling furniture made from shipwreck salvage.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1968-07_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Names Robert Gillespie as "brother of the groom" and an usher at brother John Wayne Gillespie's wedding, and Mary Gillespie as a bridesmaid, "sister of the groom" — establishing both as children of Jewell and Rita Gillespie.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-12_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Identifies Robert Gillespie as Beaver Island airport manager supervising volunteer construction of the emergency-aircraft hangar and coordinating the 1974 and 1975 Fly-Ins.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Reports Robert Jewell Gillespie's November 29 marriage to Carol Lee Gatliff at Holy Cross Church, with brother Richie Gillespie as groomsman. 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
  8. Lists Robert Gillespie as flying in to join the February 14 Naubinway snowmobile crossing.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Names Robert Gillespie chairman of the Historical Society project to establish a Marine Museum in the old Martin net shed. 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 · 1976-07_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Names Robert Gillespie Grounds Committee chairman and, in 1972, manager of the new driving range.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-05_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Reports Robert Gillespie's May 25, 1991 marriage to Lisa Vance at Beaver Island Christian Church. 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 · 1991-06_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Lists "Robert J. Gillespie and his wife Lisa, of Beaver Island" among Jewell Gillespie's surviving children, confirming both the parentage and the 1991 marriage. 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 · 1995-12_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Beaver Beacon, April 2003 through 2009, Beaver Island Rural Health Center and Community Center construction reports.
    Reports Beaver Gems, under Robert Gillespie, as low bidder and contractor for the new medical building, and later for the PABI Community Center and a Community School construction project. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-04_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Reports Robert Gillespie winning a trophy donated by Dr. John Ludwig at a weekly August tournament at Beaver Lodge, alongside Timmy McDonough's Junior Championship -- evidence of golf involvement two years before his Grounds Committee chairmanship.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-10_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Describes the 1974 Fly-In drawing about 450 visitors, a Game Club whitefish dinner, and television coverage; names Airport Manager Robert Gillespie, "noted shipwreck historian," as pleased with the results and already planning the 1975 Fly-In.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Reports the Sweet Adelines selling raffle tickets for "the beautiful shipwreck furniture made by Robert Gillespie" -- evidence Beaver Gems' shipwreck-oak furniture business continued at least through 1983. 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 · 1983-08_Beaver-Beacon
  17. The held issue confirms the wedding report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-11_Beaver-Beacon
  18. Identifies Robert Gillespie as airport manager and says volunteer labor constructing the emergency-aircraft hangar worked under his supervision.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  19. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Names Airport Manager Robert Gillespie on the Fly-In welcoming committee and credits him with planning another Fly-In for 1975; it does not establish a formal appointment or tenure.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  21. The held eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-11_Beaver-Beacon
  22. Credits Robert Gillespie with coordinating the emergency-aircraft hangar workers and serving as liaison between Beaver Island and the Aeronautics Commission; it does not establish a formal employment record or complete tenure. 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 · 1975-02_Beaver-Beacon
  23. The scan confirms the reported coordination and liaison roles.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-02_Beaver-Beacon
  24. Identifies Robert Gillespie as Airport Manager and credits him with thanks to volunteers after the October 5 Fly-In. It does not establish a formal appointment or tenure. 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 · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  25. The held issue confirms the completed Fly-In and volunteer acknowledgment.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-10_Beaver-Beacon
  26. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  27. Lists "Gillespie, Robert J." (1950-2015), married to Carol Gatliff & Lisa Vance, parents Jewell & Rita O'Donnell Gillespie -- the single combined record that bridges the separate 1975 (Carol Lee Gatliff) and 1991 (Lisa Vance) marriage notices to one man. Also lists a distinct, older "Gillespie, Robert 'Speck'" (1922-1999), son of Francis & Mary Ann Boyle Gillespie -- this man's uncle and a namesake, not this record's subject.
    websites · www.beaverislandhistory.org · holy-cross-cemetery · index
  28. A family post announced Robert Jewell Gillespie’s death after complications during surgery and said funeral details were still being arranged. The source confirms the 2015 death announcement and family identity, but the forum thread does not provide a completed funeral record or independently establish the precise date of death.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 09 · t009042
  29. States "'Speck' Gillespie will be aboard the Str. Wm McLauglin" among departing lake-freighter sailors -- names the uncle-namesake by nickname only, never as bare "Robert Gillespie." 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 · 1956-04_Beaver-Beacon
  30. Lists "Speck Gillespie" among Islanders sailing the Lakes that season, again by nickname only. 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 · 1957-04_Beaver-Beacon
  31. States "John and Norman Robert 'Speck' Gillespie are both in the Marine Hospital in Chicago" -- gives the uncle-namesake's full name, Norman Robert Gillespie, confirming he is a distinct person from Jewell and Rita's son Robert J. Gillespie.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-04_Beaver-Beacon

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Robert J. Gillespie”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/robert-j-gillespie/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, July 1973, “Businesses Open for the Summer.” (and 30 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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