SWANS ISLAND – James D. Gillespie, 87, died July 22, 2005, at home after a long illness. Jimmie was born in 1917, in Milton, Mass., the son of David and Wilhelmina Gillespie. Since his father died when he was eight, he had to start working at a young age. He went to night school for years, studying mechanical engineering at Boston University, Tufts College and Temple University. Jimmie spent his career working for the Dawson MacDonald Company. When World War II began, Dawson MacDonald, which did not make tools for the war effort, laid off all its workers. He was hired by E.B. Badger Engineering, which made desalination equipment and cracking systems that extracted gas from oil. It was there that he met his future wife, Elsie Young. At the beginning of World War II, his mother was returning home from a visit to family in Scotland on the Athenia when a German submarine torpedoed the boat. She survived and returned to Scotland, but Jimmie did not hear about her rescue. He immediately joined the Navy, serving through 1945. Elsie and Jimmie became engaged when he set sail on a mine sweeper, participating in the invasions of Italy, Sicily, and Africa. He then transferred as the engineering officer to the submarine Balao, which was stationed in Perth, Australia and participated in the invasion of the Philippines. By the time he came home, his first daughter, Merryl, was born. He and Elsie built a house in Cohasset, Mass., where their second daughter, Heather, was born. After the war, Jimmie returned to work for Dawson MacDonald. When the owner died without heirs in 1960, he left half the company’s stock to Jimmie. He retired in 1972 and moved to Swans Island with Elsie. There, he pursued a host of interests, including gardening, clock building, painting, sign carving and half-model construction, and was active in a number of community activities, including building cradles for many of the children born on the Island for the past 30 years. Jimmy was also active in the Shrine and the Masons. He was married to Elsie for more than 60 years and is survived by his two daughters and their husbands, Merryl and Donald Hodgson of Falmouth and Heather Miller and John Martin of Bethesda, Md.; two grandsons, Edward Hodgson of New York City, N.Y. and Nathaniel Hodgson, who is attending Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa.; and a sister, Margaret Sheptyck of Milton, Mass. A memorial service is planned for the time of burial on Swans Island at a later date. Contributions in Jimmy’s memory may be made to the Swans Island Ambulance Service, care of Debbie Staples, Swans Island, ME 04685. Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home, 1139 Main St., Mt. Desert.
JAMES D. GILLESPIE
