A loving husband, father and grandfather he is survived by his wife, Maxine, two daughters; Brenda (Reece) Johnston and Linda (Ted) Tucker both of L’Etete, one son, Gary (Muriel) Hooper of Uxbridge, ON, five grandchildren; Tracy (Brian) Howard of Port Perry, ON, Terri Hooper of Uxbridge, ON, Heather Thompson and Annette Johnston of Oshawa, ON and Tammy (Greg) Cooke of L’Etete, nine great grandchildren, one daughter in law, Diane of Bocabec, NB and several nieces, nephews and cousins. He was predeceased by one son, David Gillespie.
Charlie served overseas in World War II, from 1942 to 1945 on the Minesweeper HMCS Bayfield as a radar operator. Following the war, Charlie was a self employed fisherman and lighthouse keeper. He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting and fishing and just being outdoors. Charlie was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch # 40 in St. George NB and a member of the Church of Christ, St. George.
Resting at the Church of Christ, St. George, from where the service will be held on Monday at 2:00 pm with Rev. David Haddon and Rev. Giles Mullen officiating. Visiting at the church on Sunday from 2-4 and 7-9 pm. A Royal Canadian Legion Tribute Service will be held at the church on Sunday at 7:00 pm. In Charles’ memory donations can be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. Arrangements in the care of the St. George Funeral Home & Crematorium (755-3533) 26 Portage Street, St. George NB
Charlie Gillespie
Mullen
Telegraph-Journal
Published Monday December 10th, 2007
Appeared on page C7
LETETE - Navy war veteran, self-employed fisherman and lighthouse keeper Charlie Gillespie and his wife of 59 years, Maxine (Leslie), were part of the same Grade 1 class at the school that then served this Charlotte County community.
And on Nov. 30, when the well-liked 82-year-old died at home of heart failure, she was also by his side.
But in an interview last week, Maxine said there was a time when her young life and that of the man she later came to know as "a loving husband, father and grandfather" took very different paths.
The school-days crush they once shared became just a memory when, after Grade 8, Charlie went to work loading pulp and running lines for Cole Bridges' blueberry fields before enlisting in the Navy, at age 17, in 1942.
While he served aboard two torpedo boats and was part of the crew of the minesweeper HMCS Bayfield in the English Channel, Maxine - who wed at age 14 - was back home raising two young children from a marriage that ended in failure.
Maxine, then a single mom living at home, said Charlie came back into her life the night she went to his parents' home to get someone to drive her to get an ice bag for her ailing mom.
"Charlie drove me up the road to get the ice bag and drove me home, and it went from there," she said.
The two married on Aug. 28, 1948, at the Baptist parsonage in Blacks Harbour.
They added two more children to the family circle after settling comfortably into the rural life of this coastal community, where enterprising Charlie also was assistant lighthouse keeper for five years under the late Kitchener Randall at Greens Point Light.
Maxine said Charlie had a great disposition.
"He always got up whistling," said Maxine. "He was a happy man. Just an everyday man who got along with everybody."
As a fisherman, she said, his main claim to fame was that he made the "best salt fish in the country," which he would sell from their home here, or through dealers like Jackson's in Wilsons Beach, Campobello.
"He salted and dried his fish right fresh from the water; he didn't save them until they got soft and flabby," said Maxine.
Charlie also loved to sport fish, hunt and cut wood, said Maxine, and managed to do so right up until recent years despite spending five weeks in hospital after suffering his first major heart attack when he was just 39 years of age.
Born at Pennfield on April 25, 1925, Charles Nevin Gillespie was the son of the late Hugh and Nina (Matthews) Gillespie.
Besides his wife, his survivors include two daughters, Brenda Johnston and Linda Tucker, both of Letete; one son, Gary Hooper of Uxbridge, Ont.; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
The Gillespies' other son, David, died previously.
Maxine and Charlie, a member of the Church of Christ in St. George, were well-known in this area in later years as people who were willing to drive their neighbours wherever they needed to go.
Except for his hunting and fishing trips, said Maxine, Charlie was a "homebody" at heart. When she went to Ireland, he was content to stay at home. However, at age 77, he died fulfil his wish to go moose hunting in Newfoundland. "But he almost died by the time he got out of the woods," Maxine recalled.
His ticker acting up again, Charlie underwent a quadruple bypass on his 78th birthday that gave him two more good years.
But for the past couple of years, she said, he had been back and forth to hospital in Saint John many times for assessment and treatment and not able to do much around home. He was also diagnosed with lung cancer.
As someone who got a great kick out of living, she said Charlie didn't want to die.
"Once he got sick, he didn't want me out of his sight," said Maxine. "And for the past couple of years, I never was."