Sequel to other Terry Fox story: Retired high school educator is dedicated to volunteerism
By Mark Schadenberg
Above
and beyond !
In
Woodstock, the community is truly grateful for the volunteerism of Bill
Gillespie as the coordinator for The Terry Fox Run.
Gillespie
has a strong committee -- along with the Lions Club of Woodstock as part
of a busy crew, but Bill Gillespie deserves the lion share of the
credit for building up The Terry Fox Run back to as strong as it
previously was. Last year, there were 335 participants in Woodstock.
Gillespie
will not forget the sacrifices and efforts of Terry Fox as he
witnessed the struggles of the Marathon Of Hope twice in 1980,
including Terry's day in Woodstock.
"It
was 40 C -- his stump was bleeding," Gillespie recalled in a
2010 Woodstock Sentinel-Review story (link below). "(Terry)
still took the time to wave to everybody.”
On
a family trip later that summer, Gillespie would again see Terry,
this time on Highway 11 near Orillia and Fox was
running in the pouring rain.
"It's
a huge unifying thing that has happened to a country and its people.
Terry Fox is one of the best-known names inside Canada and outside of
Canada,” Gillespie previously explained to The Sentinel-Review.
"I'm really convinced Canadians are attracted to the adversity
he overcame and didn't let stand in his way."
Before
retiring as a teacher / faculty member at Huron Park Secondary
School, Gillespie would be the long-time convener for the Terry Fox
events at public schools around Oxford County, but in 2010 he (along
with the Lions Club) decided to assume the organization of the event
from the Narancsik family and the Rotary Club, which had kept the
public version of the Terry Fox Run going for about 25 years locally.
If
you would ask him, Gillespie would talk about himself in modest
terms, but as an athlete he is a two-time world champion in
basketball for Canada (Toronto Hounds) at the World Masters Games
(2002 in 60-64 age group in Melbourne, Australia; and also 1989 in
45-50 bracket). In 1994 and 2002, he was a member of silver-medal
Team Canada squads in a respective age group.
Gillespie
knows about competing, internal fortitude and dedication. However,
even Gillespie was overwhelmed by the sheer courage displayed by
Terry Fox through his Marathon Of Hope and the suffering Fox endured
as cancer was invading his lungs and forcing the run to end after
143 days.
Volunteerism
is now the best word to describe Gillespie.
As
a HPSS faculty coach, he organized the annual Captains – Veterans
season-ending benefit high school basketball games for about 20
years, raising dollars for various charities. Not only did he coach
basketball at HPSS for many years, but track and field as well.
His
basketball roots go way (way) back as he played at the OUA level for
Waterloo Lutheran, which today is Laurier university in Waterloo,
winning a provincial league title with the Golden Hawks in 1966, and
later playing with the famed Woodstock Kings of the Central Ontario
Intermediate league.
It's
easy to see why Bill Gillespie is a Lifetime Achievement member of
the Woodstock Sports Wall of Fame. Further to this, when the Rick
Hansen 25-Year 'Man In Motion' tour arrived in Woodstock a few years
ago, raising awareness and money for spinal cord injury research, it
was Gillespie who was selected to be as the Woodstock honourable
medal bearer. Gillespie was also a recipient of the Queen's Jubilee
award in 2012.
With the Lions Club and through his own initiatives, and assistance from the one-and-only wife Nancy, Gillespie collects pop cans and tabs for recycling, and then converting those dollars into a charitable donation. Gillespie has a revolving system of local restaurants (Fritzie's, Montana's, Kelsey's, Boston Pizza, Ody's, etc) who donate monthly proceeds from a certain table (Community Corner) in their restaurant to Lions Club causes. Every Christmas season is a time for giving time and collected items and toys to four local (winter) charities, including The Christmas Place and Inn Out Of The Cold.
The list goes on and on.
Thanks Bill !
Bill Gillespie with poster from two years ago
TERRY
FOX RUN
'The
Marathon Of Home' continues.
With
worldwide collections now exceeding $650 million, the annual
community fundraiser (there are still additional school fundraisers
planned into the autumn), the Terry Fox Foundation contributes about
$30 million annually to finding a cancer cure research projects.
Registrations
on Sunday, Sept 14 begin at 9 a.m. At the BDO building at 94 Graham
Street in Woodstock, with the walk (run or bicycle) beginning at 10
a.m. with distance of one, 2.5, 5 and 10 km. Participants don't have
to begin at 10 a.m. as you can complete your chosen course at 9 a.m.
if you prefer or much later as registrations will be accepted up to 2
p.m.
In looking through the Terry Fox Foundation website (www.terryfox.org) and recalling an old movie about the cross-Canada endeavour, I recall that Terry's most important wish about running into Toronto was to meet Darryl Sittler and Bobby Orr. Obviously, the photo below is Terry Fox with a Sittler jersey.
Pledge
Sheets
In
Woodstock, you can pick up a participation (registration) forms at
many locations:
Kelsey's
and Montana's restaurants on Norwich Ave.
Scotiabank
branch on Dundas
Royal
Bank branch on Dundas
Tim
Horton's west end
Good
Life co-ed fitness centre
Heart
FM 104.7 studio on Norwich Ave.
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion
. . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
