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Person

Rita M. Gillespie

Also Rita Gillespie · Rita O'Donnell Gillespie · Rita Mae O'Donnell · O'Donnell; formerly Rita O'Donnell

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
Born1927-09-24
Died1988-04-15
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Born
1927-09-24
Died
1988-04-15
Work
Trustee, Beaver Island School Board · Vice-president, Holy Cross Altar Society · Secretary, Holy Cross Altar Society
Spouse
Jewell F. 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
Holy Cross Altar Society
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
religioncatholicismcommunitygovernanceeducationfamily
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Rita M. Gillespie, born Rita O’Donnell (24 September 1927 – 15 April 1988), was a Beaver Island civic and parish officer — a School Board trustee, an officer of the Holy Cross Altar Society, and the woman credited with reviving square dancing on the island in the 1970s. She married Jewell F. Gillespie in 1945 and the couple raised thirteen children. She died of a blood disease in 1988, and the island’s annual blood drive has carried her name ever since.

History

Gillespie was born on Beaver Island on 24 September 1927 to Willie (“Woodchopper”) and Bridget (Burns) O’Donnell, and attended school on the island.1 On 2 May 1945 she married Jewell Gillespie, also of the island; the Beacon separately noted the couple’s 38th anniversary on the same date in 1983, and their obituaries in 1988 and 1995 agree on the date.2 Together they had thirteen children, four of whom — Mary Sue, Bridget A., Gerald T. and James M. — predeceased their parents.2

In June 1967 Gillespie was elected, along with Marion Martin and Lillian Gallagher, to a four-year term on the Beaver Island School Board; an August 1971 roster still lists her as a trustee.34 In May 1965 the Board chose her to make the gift presentation at a surprise retirement party for county nurse Marion Rice.5 She served as an officer of the Holy Cross Altar Society across the 1970s: vice-president in January 1973 under President Loy Malloy, Secretary Skip McDonough and Treasurer Betty Welke; secretary in January 1976; and vice-president again in January 1977, elected alongside President Joy Green, Secretary Terry Hart and Treasurer Cecilia Fleishman. None of these notices carries an identity bridge to the others beyond the shared name and parish context, though the run of annual officer lists is consistent with a single continuing member.6

Gillespie was credited in the Beacon with reviving square dancing on Beaver Island: a January 1975 note says she “started the ball rolling,” with Russ Green calling and Jewell Gillespie and Edward Palmer supplying the music on Wednesday and Friday nights.7 She was also the island’s regular contact for the annual summer Homecoming Dance through the 1970s and into 1980 — the Beacon asked readers to “contact Rita Gillespie” for tickets or reservations in July 1974 (the 3rd Annual Homecoming Dance), July 1977 (an “Old-time Homecoming Dance” at the Parish Hall), and August 1980 (Holy Cross Church’s annual Homecoming Dance, also at the Parish Hall) — and a repeated chaperone on school class trips: in May 1974 she was one of eight adults, alongside Lillian Cole, Mary Gillespie, Skip McDonough, Joy Green, Sister Emeliana, Lil Left and Karen Campbell, who took the first through fourth graders to Charlevoix.8

Gillespie died on 15 April 1988. A September 1988 Beacon report on the island’s first blood drive says she died “due to a leukemic blood disease,” and a 2006 retrospective describes her as a “long-time resident of Beaver Island who had required transfusions during a lengthy illness that eventually took her life.”9 The Rita Gillespie Memorial Blood Drive began that August and has been held nearly every summer since, drawing as many as 115 donors in a single day.10

Significance

Gillespie’s civic record — school board trustee, parish officer, and the figure the Beacon credits with restarting a community tradition — is typical of the unpaid work that kept small island institutions running, and it is documented almost entirely through her own name rather than as “Mrs. Jewell Gillespie.” The blood drive named for her after her death has run for more than three decades and is the clearest evidence of how the island chose to remember her.

Open questions

  • The full names, birth years and causes of death of the four Gillespie children who predeceased their parents are not established beyond their bare listing in Jewell Gillespie’s 1995 obituary.
  • The January 1973 Altar Society officer notice is not formally bridged to the 1976 and 1977 notices beyond the shared name and parish context; no source states they are the same term or an unbroken tenure.
  • The nature and duration of the “leukemic blood disease” that caused her death are not given beyond the two retrospective Beacon mentions.

See also

Sources

See also the full sources: block above.

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, May 1988, memorial notice on Rita M. Gillespie. ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, December 1995, “Jewell F. Gillespie, 78” (obituary). ↩ ↩2

  3. Beaver Beacon, June 1967, School Board election results. ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, August 1971, School Board roster. ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, May 1965, retirement tribute to County Nurse Marion Rice. ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, January 1973 and January 1976, Altar Society officer notices. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, January 1975 and March 1975, square-dancing notes. ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, July 1974, July 1977 and August 1980, Homecoming Dance notices; May 1974, school-trip chaperone notice. ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, September 1988, “First Annual Rita Gillespie Memorial Blood Drive a Success”; October 2006 retrospective. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, September 2009, blood-drive results notice. ↩

Kin

This articleRita M.Gillespie1927 – 1988Jewell F.Gillespie1917 – 1995Daniel 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.

Sources

  1. Lists Rita Gillespie as secretary of the Holy Cross Altar 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 · 1976-01_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held issue confirms the officer listing.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-01_Beaver-Beacon
  3. States she was born Rita O'Donnell on Beaver Island to Willie ("Woodchopper") and Bridget (Burns) O'Donnell on September 24, 1927; attended school on the island; married Jewell Gillespie May 2, 1945; and that the couple had thirteen children. 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 · 1988-05_Beaver-Beacon
  4. States she died in April 1988 "due to a leukemic blood disease" and that the island's blood drive was named in her memory. 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 · 1988-09_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Beaver Beacon, October 2006, retrospective on the Rita Gillespie Memorial Blood Drive.
    States the blood drive, begun July 23, 1992 and held annually since except 1995, was named for "a long-time resident of Beaver Island who had required transfusions during a lengthy illness that eventually took her life." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-10_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Confirms the May 2, 1945 marriage date, that "Rita Mae O'Donnell" predeceased her husband on April 15, 1988, and lists their nine surviving and four predeceased children. 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
  7. Reports Rita Gillespie elected, with Marion Martin and Lillian Gallagher, to a four-year term on the Beaver Island School Board.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-06_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Lists Rita Gillespie as a trustee of the Beaver Island School Board.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-08_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Credits Rita Gillespie with starting the revival of square dancing on the island, with music by Jewell Gillespie and Edward Palmer. 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 · 1975-01_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Names Rita Gillespie as making the gift presentation at the surprise retirement party the School Board held for Marion Rice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1965-05_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Lists Rita Gillespie as vice-president of the Holy Cross Altar Society, under President Loy Malloy, Secretary Skip McDonough and Treasurer Betty Welke.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-01_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Lists Rita Gillespie as vice-president of the Holy Cross Altar Society, elected at the Society's January annual election, under President Joy Green, Secretary Terry Hart and Treasurer Cecilia Fleishman. 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 · 1977-01_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Names Rita Gillespie among the chaperones (with Lillian Cole, Mary Gillespie, Skip McDonough, Joy Green, Sister Emeliana, Lil Left and Karen Campbell) for the first-through-fourth-grade class trip to Charlevoix. The same issue's community notes ask readers to "contact Rita Gillespie soon" to reserve for the 3rd Annual Homecoming Dance, August 10.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-05_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Asks readers to "contact Rita Gillespie now for your reservations" for the 3rd Annual Homecoming Dance, August 10, 1974. 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 · 1974-07_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Asks readers to "contact Rita Gillespie for your tickets" to the Old-time Homecoming Dance at the Parish Hall, August 13, 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 · 1977-07_Beaver-Beacon
  16. States tickets to the Holy Cross Church's annual Homecoming Dance at the Parish Hall "may be purchased ahead of time from Rita 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 · 1980-08_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Beaver Beacon, September 2009, blood-drive results notice.
    States "The Rita Gillespie Blood Drive set a record with 115 donors." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-09_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Rita M. Gillespie”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/rita-m-odonnell-gillespie/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, January 1976, “New Officers.” (and 16 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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