Dean M. Gillespie

Summary

Dean Milton Gillespie (May 3, 1884 – February 2, 1949) was a U.S. Representative from Colorado.

Dean M. Gillespie
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Colorado's 1st district
In office
March 7, 1944 – January 3, 1947
Preceded byLawrence Lewis
Succeeded byJohn A. Carroll
Personal details
Born(1884-05-03)May 3, 1884
Salina, Kansas
DiedFebruary 2, 1949(1949-02-02) (aged 64)
Baltimore, Maryland
CommitteesAppropriations, Treasury, Post Office, State, Justice, and Commerce.[1]

Early life and education edit

Born in Salina, Kansas, the youngest son of Dr. D. M. Gillespie and Mrs. D. M. Gillespie of Blaine Township, Clay County, Kansas.[2] His father has been a pioneer of Kansas and was a physician.[1] He also published a temperance newspaper entitled, The Rising Sun.[2]

Gillespie attended the public schools and Salina Normal University. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and cattle raising in Clay County, Kansas, from 1900 to 1904.[3]

Career edit

He moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1905 and worked as grocery clerk, sign painter, and salesman. He engaged in the automobile and oil business since 1905.[3] Gillespie founded Power Equipment Company and incorporated under the corporate laws of Colorado on September 14, 1936. Operations were initially conducted through two affiliated corporations, Power Equipment Co. and Dean Gillespie & Co., which firms controlled the franchises for Allis-Chalmers Construction Equipment and White Motor trucks.[3]

Gillespie was elected as a Republican to the 78th Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Lawrence Lewis, reelected to the 79th Congress, and served from March 7, 1944, to January 3, 1947. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946 to the 80th Congress.[3]

He then returned to his former business pursuits.[3] He was president of Dean Gillespie & Company, president of Motoroyal Oil Company, and vice president of BluHill Food Corporation.[1] He was an Elk, Mason, Shriner and a member of a number organizations.[1]

Personal life edit

He married Lillie Baldwin on January 29, 1908, in Golden, Colorado.[2] They had two daughters. One of his daughters, Ruth Gillespie, was an attorney in Denver. Lillie died in 1941.[4]

He had the world's largest collection of meteorites and often gave talks about meteorites.[4]

He checked himself into Johns Hopkins Hospital while on a business trip and died of a heart attack on February 2, 1949, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was interred in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.[3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Congress, United States (1949). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 80language=en.
  2. ^ a b c "Former Salina Boy Married". The Salina Daily Union. February 24, 1908. p. 4. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary for DEAN M. GILLESPIE". The Windsor Beacon. February 10, 1949. p. 8. Retrieved February 3, 2020.

External links edit

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Colorado's 1st congressional district

March 7, 1944 - January 3, 1947
Succeeded by