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Person

Jewell F. Gillespie

Also Jewell Gillespie · Jewell F. Gillespie · J.F. Gillespie

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
Born1917-01-09
Died1995-10-21
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Born
1917-01-09
Died
1995-10-21
Work
Musician (guitar accompanist) · Fuel and salvage operator; general contractor · President, Beaver Island Civic Association · Chairman, telephone-service committee; later president, Beaver Island Telephone Company · Manager and operator, island power plant (Northern Michigan Electric Co.) · Member, Beaver Island School Board
Spouse
Rita M. Gillespie
Children
John Wayne "Johnny" Gillespie · Robert J. Gillespie · Richard Lynn "Richie" Gillespie · Daniel G. "Danny" Gillespie · William "Billy" F. Gillespie · Mary T. Palmer · Julie A. Gillespie
Member of
Beaver Island Civic Association · Beaver Island Historical Society · Beaver Island Telephone Company
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
maritimeeconomygovernanceinfrastructurecommunicationmusic-folkloreheritagecommercefishinghealthcarecommunityshipwrecks
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Jewell F. Gillespie (9 January 1917 – 21 October 1995) was a Beaver Island utility operator, salvor and musician whose name runs through four decades of the Beaver Beacon — as a founder of the paper itself, as the man islanders called on to keep the power plant, telephones and fuel dock running, and as the guitarist who backed fiddler Patrick Bonner on the Alan Lomax and Ivan Walton field recordings of the island’s Irish-American music. He was a lifelong resident of Beaver Island, married Rita Mae O’Donnell in 1945, and raised thirteen children with her.

History

Gillespie was born on Beaver Island on 9 January 1917, the son of Francis and Mary Ann (Boyle) Gillespie, and spent his entire life there.1 On 2 May 1945 he married Rita Mae O’Donnell, also of the island; the Beacon noted their 38th anniversary on the same date in 1983.2

Gillespie was among the small group that produced the first issue of the Beaver Beacon in January 1955.3 That September he was a founding board member of the Beaver Island Historical Society, serving on its Public Relations Committee.4 He was president of the Beaver Island Civic Association until the March 1955 annual meeting, when Frank Nackerman succeeded him.5 He was also involved in the 1953 community effort, built barn-raising style, that put up the island’s first medical facility.6

Through the 1950s and 1960s Gillespie ran the island’s utilities. He managed and operated the power plant for Northern Michigan Electric Co.7 In January 1957 the Coast Guard served him formal notice that it would end the commercial telephone service it had been providing through its own facilities; the Civic Association put him at the head of a committee to find a replacement, and by later that year the Beaver Island Telephone Company had formed with Gillespie as its president.8 He installed fuel-oil storage tanks beside the power plant and, later, contracted with a tug-and-barge operation to keep the island supplied.9

Gillespie’s name also recurs in the island’s maritime record. He salvaged Jim Sawtelle’s stranded tug after wind and sea drove it onto the beach near Iron Ore Bay during the prolonged effort to recover furniture-grade timber from the wreck of the Milwaukee Belle.10 On 8 February 1965 the winch on his truck pulled down the shed on the old Gallagher Dock to make way for the Yacht Dock expansion.11 In June 1973, towing the loaded fuel barge Oil Queen behind his tug American Girl, he watched its deck load shift and the barge roll over partway between Charlevoix and St. James; he towed the capsized barge into Sand Bay, and after the Coast Guard authorized the move, into St. James, where it was pumped out and righted with cranes and a winch truck.12 His fuel business operated as a registered company, Gillespie Oil & Transit, Inc., which by the mid-1980s was bidding competitively against Martin’s Gas and Oil for St. James Township’s fuel contracts, employed at least one islander outside the family, and in July 1985 won the low bid, over a protested irregularity in its bond, for Phase I repair work at the Beaver Island Yacht Dock.13

Gillespie played guitar behind fiddler Patrick Bonner for much of his life, and the two are the backup-and-lead pair featured in the mid-twentieth-century field recordings of collectors Ivan Walton and Alan Lomax, now held at the University of Michigan and the Library of Congress. In 1993 the Michigan Traditional Arts Program named him a Michigan Heritage Award recipient as outstanding citizen of the year for his contributions to the state’s cultural diversity; by the time the Beacon profiled the award in 1996, his health no longer allowed him to sing or play, though his sons Danny and Cindy, and his son-in-law Edward Palmer, were carrying the island’s music forward.14 He also served on the Beaver Island School Board until his resignation was noted in February 1981.15

Two hospital stays bracket this record: the Beacon reported him spending several days at Charlevoix Hospital in January 1960, and as a patient at Munson Hospital in Traverse City in January 1974; neither notice gives a diagnosis.1617

Gillespie died on 21 October 1995 at Charlevoix Area Hospital; his funeral was held at Holy Cross Church and he was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. Rita had predeceased him on 15 April 1988. Their obituary lists five surviving sons — John W., William “Billy” F., Robert J., Daniel G. and Richard L. — and four surviving daughters, Mary T. Palmer, Julie A., Kathleen M. Maudrie and Cynthia Rose Brown, along with 22 grandchildren. Four children — Mary Sue, Bridget A., Gerald T. and James M. — and a grandson, Jewell Perry Gillespie, had predeceased him.1 In 1996 the St. James Township board agreed, at the request of his son Robert, to name the public beach across from Holy Cross Hall in his memory; by the mid-2000s the Beacon was referring to the Fourth of July carnival grounds as “the Jewell Gillespie Public Beach.”18

Significance

Gillespie sat at the center of the island’s mid-twentieth-century civic infrastructure — its newspaper, telephone service, power plant, historical society and medical center all carry his name in their founding record — and he is one of the few Beaver Islanders whose music survives in a national folklife archive. The 1993 Michigan Heritage Award formally recognized what the Beacon’s decades of notices already showed: that islanders leaned on him for utilities and turned to him for music at the same events.

Evidence and limits

This record merges four articles originally drawn from separate newspaper appearances of the same name (Gallagher Dock demolition 1965, Charlevoix Hospital stay 1960, Milwaukee Belle salvage 1968, and the Oil Queen capsizing 1973, which carried the fullest biography). The identity bridge is the December 1995 Beacon obituary, which gives the same birth date (9 January 1917), death date (21 October 1995), spouse (Rita Mae O’Donnell, married 1945), and parents (Francis and Mary Ann Boyle Gillespie) as the consistent 1917–1995 Holy Cross Cemetery entry — and every merged episode names “Jewell Gillespie” or “Jewell F. Gillespie” on Beaver Island across a continuous run of Beacon notices from 1955 to 2007, with no competing Jewell Gillespie appearing anywhere in the newspaper record consulted here.

Open questions

  • The full names, birth years and causes of death of the four Gillespie children who predeceased their parents (Mary Sue, Bridget A., Gerald T. and James M.) are not established beyond their bare listing in the 1995 obituary.
  • Exact start and end dates for Gillespie’s tenure as power-plant manager and telephone-company president are not fixed beyond the newspaper notices cited here.
  • Gillespie Oil & Transit, Inc. is documented as a registered company bidding on township fuel and dock-repair contracts through the mid-1980s; no source read here establishes when Jewell Gillespie founded it, whether he remained its principal into the 1980s, or when it closed. A 1988 township-meeting report separately notes a “Gillespie Oil & Transit” property exchange with St. James Township, not explored further here.

See also

Sources

See also the full sources: block above.

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, December 1995, “Jewell F. Gillespie, 78” (reprinted from the Petoskey News-Review). ↩ ↩2

  2. Beaver Beacon, May 1983, “Anniversaries.” ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, June 1983, retrospective on the paper’s 1955 founding. ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, September 1955, “Beaver Island Historical Society Is Formed.” ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, March 2005, “Fifty Years Ago.” ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, February 1991, retrospective on the 1953 Medical Center construction. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, January 1959, “Power Plant Pains Are Growing.” ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, February 1957, “Telephone Tangle.” ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, June 1964 and October 2004 retrospective notices on the power-plant fuel tanks. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, September 1968, “Shipwreck Salvage.” ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, February 1965, “Beaver Tales.” ↩

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

  13. Beaver Beacon, June 1984, “Fuel Oil Bids”; July 1985, Yacht Dock repair bid report; July 1986, Planning Commission and zoning-permit notices. ↩

  14. Beaver Beacon, February 1996, “An Award to Jewell Gillespie.” ↩

  15. Beaver Beacon, February 1981, School Board note. ↩

  16. Beaver Beacon, January 1960, hospital notices. ↩

  17. Beaver Beacon, January 1974, “Hospital Notes.” ↩

  18. Beaver Beacon, January 1996 (Township Board minutes) and July 2007, Fourth of July carnival notice. ↩

Kin

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

The dated record

7 dated events · 1917–1995These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Names Jewell Gillespie as the person towing the loaded Oil Queen in American Girl and bringing the capsized barge into Sand Bay for righting at St. James.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Lists Jewell Gillespie as a patient at Munson Hospital in Traverse City; it gives no diagnosis or treatment record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-01_Beaver-Beacon
  4. Full obituary: born January 9, 1917 on Beaver Island to Francis and Mary Ann (Boyle) Gillespie; died October 21, 1995 at Charlevoix Area Hospital; married Rita Mae O'Donnell May 2, 1945 (she predeceased him April 15, 1988); lists five surviving sons, four surviving daughters, four predeceased children, a predeceased grandson, and the 1993 Michigan Heritage Award. The primary source for the family-relation edges on this record. 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
  5. Lists Jewell F. Gillespie (1917–1995), consistent with the obituary dates.
  6. Names Jewell Gillespie as a founding board member and on the Public Relations Committee of the newly formed Historical Society. 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 · 1955-09_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Reports the Coast Guard's notice ending commercial telephone service and names "Jewell F. Gillespie" as the man the Coast Guard served, then as chairman of the Civic Association committee formed to find a replacement. 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 · 1957-02_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Identifies Jewell Gillespie as manager and operator of the island power plant for Northern Michigan Electric Co. 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 · 1959-01_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Names Jewell Gillespie among those who produced the Beacon's first issue in January 1955. 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 · 1983-06_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Describes the 1993 Michigan Heritage Award, his role as backup guitarist for fiddler Patrick Bonner in the Ivan Walton and Alan Lomax field recordings, and that his health by 1996 no longer permitted him to sing or play. 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 · 1996-02_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Beaver Beacon, March 2005, “Fifty Years Ago.”
    Reports the 1955 Civic Association annual meeting at which Frank Nackerman replaced Jewell Gillespie as president. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2005-03_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Records Barb Beckers filling the school board vacancy created by Jewell Gillespie's resignation. 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 · 1981-02_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Notes the Gillespies' 38th wedding anniversary on May 2, independently corroborating the 1945 marriage date. 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 · 1983-05_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Says Jewell Gillespie salvaged Jim Sawtelle's tug after wind and sea put it on the beach three years earlier, during the Milwaukee Belle salvage effort.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1968-09_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Names Jewell Gillespie's truck and its winch in the February 8 demolition of the Gallagher Dock shed.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-02_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Names Jewell and Rita Gillespie as grandparents in son William "Bill" Gillespie's April 22 birth notice for Jennifer Charlotte 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 · 1975-04_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Names Mr. and Mrs. Jewell Gillespie as grandparents of Rene Therese Gillespie and identifies Robert Jewell Gillespie as their son in the November 29 wedding notice. 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
  18. Reports St. James Township fuel-oil bids from Martin's Gas and Oil and Gillespie Oil and Transit, both at 98 cents per gallon, split by dipsticking the tanks. 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 · 1984-06_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Reports Gillespie Oil and Transit, Inc. as low bidder at $16,870.99 for Phase I repair of the Beaver Island Yacht Dock, over a protest concerning its bond, which the township resolved by waiving the irregularity. 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 · 1985-07_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Reports Gillespie Oil and Transit awaiting a Planning Commission meeting on an application, and lists it among April 1986 zoning permits issued in St. James Township. 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 · 1986-07_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Reports groom Joe McDonough (son of Lawrence McDonough) was employed with Gillespie Oil and Transit, evidence the firm employed islanders outside the Gillespie family. 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 · 1979-01_Beaver-Beacon
  22. States the Beaver Island Civic Association formed in 1953 and raised funds to build a medical facility, built in "barn raising" fashion by the community, with special thanks to Art Johnston, Jewell Gillespie, Father Joe and Roger Carlisle. 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 · 1991-02_Beaver-Beacon
  23. Reports the tug North Shore towing Tanker #2, loaded with fuel oil and gasoline, into the harbor on June 6 to unload into two storage tanks Jewell Gillespie had installed beside the Power Plant.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1964-06_Beaver-Beacon
  24. Beaver Beacon, October 2004, community history feature on Forest (fuel-barge operator).
    Recounts that after the Coast Guard stopped the ferry from carrying fuel in barrels, Jewell Gillespie began contracting with Forest's North Shore-pulled fuel barge rather than buying a boat outright, and that Walt Wojan, Bud McDonough and Phil Gregg later bought their gas and oil from Jewell. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2004-10_Beaver-Beacon
  25. Records a letter from Robert Gillespie requesting the Township name the public beach across from Holy Cross Hall after Jewell Gillespie, and the Township's reply stating no objection. 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 · 1996-01_Beaver-Beacon
  26. Beaver Beacon, July 2007, Fourth of July parade and carnival report.
    Refers to the annual Fourth of July Carnival held "on the Green (by the Jewell Gillespie Public Beach)," confirming the name was in community use by 2007. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2007-07_Beaver-Beacon
  27. 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 · 1965-02_Beaver-Beacon
  28. Reports Jewell Gillespie spent several days at Charlevoix Hospital and had returned looking better. It provides no diagnosis, dates, or medical record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-01_Beaver-Beacon
  29. The held four-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 · 1960-01_Beaver-Beacon
  30. The held seven-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 · 1968-09_Beaver-Beacon

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

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Jewell F. Gillespie”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/jewell-gillespie/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, July 1973, “Disaster Averted.” (and 29 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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