The Rev. William G. Gillespie took a church without members and turned it into one of the most prominent African-American congregations in St. Louis.
Admirers say that without him, the recreational and educational opportunities for blacks here would have been greatly limited.
He was a key player in helping turn a one-building college into Harris-Stowe State University, and a group of youngsters in a church basement into Mathews-Dickey Boys' and Girls' Club.
Rev. Gillespie died Friday (June 3, 2011) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was 80 and lived in Pasadena Hills. He was diagnosed with dementia about two years ago, his family said Monday.
After 53 years, Rev. Gillespie stepped down last year as pastor of Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church at Labadie and Marcus avenues.
He found the church shuttered when he arrived in 1956. It sat in a neighborhood abandoned by many whites as blacks finally were allowed to move in.
The Presbyterians had virtually abandoned north St. Louis churches that had become integrated or predominantly black, recalled Herman Noah, retired president of the Black Presbyterian Caucus for St. Louis.
Rev. Gillespie, a dynamic young pastor, walked the neighborhood, played basketball with youngsters and knocked on doors to recruit new church members.
He preached education for youngsters and political involvement for everyone.
"He had the ability to get people to do things that we needed done," Noah said.
One of the first people Rev. Gillespie met was Martin Mathews, who was trying to build a boys club and was troubled by the lack of recreational facilities.
Rev. Gillespie offered use of the church, then helped Mathews secure financing for a storefront that became the first official home of the Mathews-Dickey Boys' and Girls' Club. It provides services for 40,000 children a year. Rev. Gillespie joined the board in 1975.
At Harris-Stowe State University, Rev. Gillespie had served on the board of regents since the school entered the state system of public education, in 1979. He was appointed and reappointed by five Missouri governors.
As chairman, he helped Henry Givens become president 31 years ago, Givens recalled.
The university's first residential hall and student center is named for Rev. Gillespie.
Rev. Gillespie grew up the third of four children in Knoxville, Tenn. He had planned to study medicine but received his religious calling soon after graduating from Knoxville College, his family said. At college, he met his future wife, Martha.
He enrolled at a seminary in North Carolina and from there became pastor of a church in Raleigh, N.C. He got an offer to come to St. Louis to become pastor of a formerly white congregation.
He arrived to find the basement flooded and no one to greet him. All he had was the keys.
"I had a big church and no members," he told the Post-Dispatch when he retired last year.
He sent his wife and child back to North Carolina to live and he moved into a YMCA. Then he began knocking on doors.
Eventually, the congregation grew to 600 members.
"He was the first African-American leader of a Presbyterian church here, and he was able to grow a membership out of that community that no one else was able to do," Noah said.
Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Friday at Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church, 4673 Labadie Avenue. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the church. Burial will be at St. Peters UCC Cemetery in Normandy.
Survivors, in addition to his wife, include a daughter, Vendetta Gillespie Dennis of St. Louis County; a son, Harry E. Gillespie of Pittsburgh; 13 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A great church and community leader I knew and admired. RIP
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