The Rev. Franklin B. Gillespie, Presbyterian minister

The Rev. Franklin B. Gillespie, 97, of Newtown Square, a Presbyterian minister, died Monday, June 25, at Riddle Memorial Hospital.

For 40 years, until retiring in 1989, Mr. Gillespie, who was affectionately known as "Reverend" or "Rev," ministered in various positions in the Presbyterian Church.

He was pastor of a church in McLean, Va., and was youth minister at a church in Washington.

After moving to Wallingford in 1952, he was national youth director of the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education for 12 years; was associate director of the International Christian Exchange for six years; and then was national field representative for Presbyterian Publications. From 1981 to 1989, he was assistant to the pastor at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. He served on the committee on medical ethics at Riddle Memorial Hospital.

For years, Mr. Gillespie was chairman of the Protestant Committee on Scouting and was Protestant chaplain at the Boy Scout Jamboree in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1960, where he conducted services for 35,000 scouts.

An accomplished singer, he was an authority on hymns and lectured on their history.

In the 1980s, Mr. Gillespie helped prepare a course on retirement planning for Delaware County Community College. He also produced a video and gave lectures at schools, churches, and seminaries, and counseled retirees and their children, his daughter, Carolyn Le Van, said.

As part of his study on services for the aging, he researched life-care communities in the Philadelphia area. In 1989, he chose the newly built White Horse Village in Newtown Square as a retirement home for his wife and himself, their daughter said.

As chairman of the religious activities committee at White Horse Village, Mr. Gillespie invited ministers of various denominations to speak; formed hymn-singing and Bible-study groups; instituted vespers; conducted memorial services; counseled the bereaved; and comforted the seriously ill. He served on the board of trustees at White Horse Village and was recipient of its Distinguished Service Award.

A native of Canonsburg, Pa., Mr. Gillespie earned a bachelor's degree from Washington and Jefferson College, and did graduate studies in physics and mathematics at Rutgers University before earning a master's in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.

He was ordained in 1940 and that year married Marion Weiss. They met at a church in North Bergen, N.J., where she was an organist. In 2004, he donated a Johannus Rembrandt organ to White Horse Village in her honor. She died in 2010.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Gillespie is survived by six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A son, Franklin Jr., died in 2004.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 8, at White Horse Village Auditorium, 535 Gradyville Rd., Newtown Square.

Donations may be made to Swarthmore Presbyterian Church, 727 Harvard Ave., Swarthmore, Pa. 19081.