It is with sadness of heart, that I inform you that John Gillespie passed away Tuesday morning, November 27. John was a lover of barbershop harmony and once he found it his life was forever changed. He loved to harmonize and sing in high school, joined the Niles Chapter and became involved in helping the Barbershop Harmony Society to flourish.
In 1976-77 he was the Pioneer District President, 1978-79 he became a
Society Board member, 1981 he was inducted into the Pioneer District Hall of
Fame, and in 1983-84 he was the Society President. At Income Tax time many
quartets, including International Champs, got willing help from John because
his accounting knowledge. He and his wife Betty, who proceeded him in death,
were coeditors of the Kalamazoo Chapter BULLETUNE for many, many years. He
maintained the chapter mailing list and mailed out show announcements
each year and then collected the ticket sales from those mailings. Did I
mention that he loved to sing? John, we will miss you in so many ways.
Visitation will be held at the Betzler Funeral Home at 6080 Stadium Dr. in
Kalamazoo from 4pm till 8pm Friday.
Funeral will be at 10:00am Saturday in St. Augustine Cathedral at 552 W.
Michigan in Kalamazoo, MI.
The Kalamazoo Barbershop Chorus, Antiques Roadshow, and Forgot To Shave
quartets will sing at the funeral. All barbershoppers are welcome to join
the chorus. We will meet at 9:00am at St. Augustine to warm up.
Raleigh Bloch
Pioneer District President