Obituary of William Pounder Gillespie IV
William Pounder Gillespie IV
May 29, 1945 – December 29, 2024
Born at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia to Lois and William P. Gillespie III. While growing up in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill, Will attended Germantown Friends School, where he graduated top of his class. His love of painting and creative expression emerged during these teen years. He then attended Chestnut Hill Academy until his family moved to Dublin, Ohio, where he finished high school at Columbus Academy. As a student at Ohio State University he pursued a double major of American History and Film/Communications, but had to pause a semester when his father passed away suddenly from a heart attack. Drafted into the army he was deployed to Viet Nam and served as a communications officer in the field. Always the prankster and quick to draw laughs, his experiences in war left an indelible mark and undergird the natural comedian with a darker, more serious side. He tried to finish college upon discharge from the army, but when the anti-Viet Nam war riots at Kent State and at his campus turned deadly, he escaped to chill out in the northern woods of Maine. Through a veteran’s program he was able to finish studies in film and communications at Temple University in the late 90’s.
He worked as a reporter for a rural newspaper in the Pacific northwest and served as a rural route postal delivery carrier for a time. Will also lived in Cleveland, Ohio and Brookline, Massachusetts, before returning to the Chestnut Hill, PA area to be closer to and support his aging mother. As director of security for Woodmere Art Museum for many years, he was able to enjoy mingling with other artists while utilizing security/military skills.
He served in an army reserve civil affairs unit for 14 years: attended the Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism, wrote/edited the unit newsletter, served as safety officer at the firing range, and led restoration projects to hurricane-ravaged island nations such as St. Thomas and Granada. More recently he has been a contributor to the Opinion page of The Delaware Sate News, and has published several letters to the Editor. Will has been a fierce defender of honesty and truth backed by scholarly knowledge of the constitution.
At Woodmere he met an artist named Molly Light, with whom he shared the love of independent thinking, artistry, deeply spiritual values and solid loyalty, and who became his companion/wife for the remainder of his life.
In the late 90‘s he was diagnosed with PTSD by the US Veterans Administration and began counseling through the VA. In 2003 he suffered a heart attack that resulted in his designation with 100% disability and qualified him to utilize the VA for all medical needs. Other physical ailments began to plague him in recent years, with the diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia (which is a kind of Parkinson’s Disease) over 5 years ago. He made valiant efforts to thwart the onset of debilitating physical and cognitive symptoms, and his quick wit never diminished, but the recent loss of his ability to craft words while writing was especially devastating. His heart finally gave out on the evening of December 29, 2024.
Services are being planned for a later date.