Jerry Gillespie

Jerry Gillespie
May 28, 1933 - April 9, 2009

To legions of young men, Jerry Gillespie was a demanding but beloved baseball coach, one who had a special fondness for kids who thought they weren’t cut out for the game. “Papa Jerry,” as everyone knew the Petaluma man, died April 9 from lung cancer. He was 75.

The Straw Hat Pizza team Gillespie coached in the Petaluma Valley Little League was considered by many a dynasty because of all the championship trophies players earned over the years.

But winning was less important to Gillespie than shaping boys into men.

“He treated everybody with a lot of respect. He expected you to pass that along. If you did a job, you did the best job, especially with his kids,” said his daughter, Val Kahaulelio of Windsor.

She described her father as intense, but not in a wound-tight kind of way. He had high standards, both for himself and for others. But he also had no problem unwinding for several weeks every summer during family vacations to Santa Cruz.

Baseball was his passion, even though he played quarterback when he was a student at UC Berkeley and University of the Pacific.

Gillespie also loved to officiate, and for 30 years was a member of the North Bay Officials Association. His daughter recalled with fondness the days she watched her father call softball games at McNear Park.

Gillespie was born on May 28, 1933, in Stockton. In high school, he met Bobbie Lowry, who became his wife. They later divorced but remained good friends.

Gillespie began his career as Stockton’s parks and recreation director. He took a job in sales after moving to Petaluma, a city he fell in love with and said he never wanted to leave.

After wrapping up his tenure with Straw Hat, Gillespie continued to coach in Rohnert Park’s Cal Ripken League, helping to nurture boys who went on to play in high school and college.

He was a member of the Petaluma Rotary Club and started the Rotary Interact Club at Petaluma Junior High School, where he volunteered to supervise the in-school suspension class.

His goal was to convince students to not come back to his class and to stay clear of trouble, his daughter said.

Besides the annual Santa Cruz vacations, Gillespie enjoyed traveling to Denver to visit friends and to watch the Giants play the Rockies. He enjoyed taking cruises and going on trips to visit as many Major League Baseball stadiums as he could. He also was a big fan of the 49ers and was an avid fantasy baseball player.

In addition to his daughter, Gillespie is survived by children Cindy Gillespie of Santa Rosa and Rick Gillespie of Penngrove. He also is survived by a sister, Sandi Szyper of El Dorado Hills, and a brother, Dan Gillespie of Oregon.

The family will hold a celebration of Gillespie’s life on May 3 at 1 p.m. at the Burton Avenue Recreation Center, 7421 Burton Ave. in Rohnert Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Jerry Gillespie Memorial Fund at Exchange Bank, 2 E. Washington St., Petaluma, 94952. The funds will be donated to local youth sports programs and the Petaluma Rotary Interact Club.

This obituary is courtesy of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.