Gillespies aim to inspire with book
By Scott Bellile
Rawhide Boys Ranch co-founder John Gillespie’s intent of publishing a book is twofold: document the history of the nonprofit organization and help parents develop well-behaved children.
Written by John Gillespie and his late wife Jan Gillespie, “Our 351 Sons” was released in June. Much of the book focuses on the formation of the faith-based ranch and the successes of some of the 351 alumni the Gillespies worked with closely.
“Because Rawhide has been so successful, numerous people like parents, social workers and people who are major donors to Rawhide, almost a month would not go by without somebody saying to us, ‘When are you guys going to write a book?’” John Gillespie said.
John Gillespie said he and his wife of 60 years were not interested in preserving the ranch’s legacy. If they were going to write a book, it would be to help others.
Therefore, the last chapter offers parents advice in the form of eight factors of character development they can use to raise their children. Examples include encouragement, discipline and correction, and serving others.
“That’s really the whole purpose of the book,” John Gillespie said. “We wanted it to be entertaining to read, easy to read, encouraging, but we wanted to have it specific enough that people with or without kids, but especially with kids of any age, they could start to use some of these principles.”
Former Green Bay Packers quarterback and Rawhide booster Bart Starr wrote in the foreword of “Our 351 Sons” that of the thousands of court-placed boys who passed through Rawhide, 85 percent who spent at least three months there never break the law again thanks to the Gillespies’ guidance.
“It’s really important for parents to be in charge and to understand that children of any age are going to want to stretch the boundaries,” John Gillespie said. “They’re going to want more freedom whether they’re 2 years old or 20 years old and still living at home. … It’s important for parents to mean what they say and only say what they can follow through on because if they threaten [to a child], ‘If you do that, this is going to happen,’ and it doesn’t happen, then you start to lose ground and pretty soon there’s no control.”
One alum in the book who said Rawhide’s disciplined environment turned his life around is Shawn Morrison. He told the Press Star that due to his poor behavior as a teen in the early 1980s, he was nearly sent to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ Lincoln Hills School in Irma. Instead, he said he had the fortune of going to Rawhide from 1981 to 1985.
Morrison said he was anti-social and dressed in all black when he first arrived to Rawhide. He recalled Jan Gillespie took him to Target to buy livelier wardrobe, which in the 1980s was “Miami Vice pastels.”
Morrison had no relationship with his parents, but under the guidance of the Gillespies, he basically gained a mother and father as well as a GED, a sense of faith and a passion for horses.
After he left he got into more trouble, so in 1986, John Gillespie invited Morrison back to live in the Carriage House and work as a groundskeeper until 1990. Life improved after Morrison’s second chance. He worked as a certified nursing assistant and married his wife, Sara. Today he freelances in production for television, film and commercials. He also volunteers for Rawhide’s CHAPS equine-assisted therapy program in Shiocton.
Being featured in the book is an “honor,” Morrison said.
The boy who inspired Rawhide was the Gillespies’ first of 351 sons, Jerry Monson. The Gillespies met him in 1960 when Monson showed up to John Gillespie’s Sunday school class and asked if he could come to his Appleton home. John Gillespie said yes, expecting an afternoon visit.
Shortly after, Monson’s mother showed up at the door, unexpectedly told the Gillespies her new husband gave her 30 days to get two of her three children out of their house, and handed over a packed suitcase.
Three months later, a county welfare inspector accused the Gillespies of illegally housing Monson without a foster home license. They fought the welfare inspector by successfully appealing to then-state Lt. Gov. Warren Knowles for the right to keep Monson. He stayed at their house a couple more years.
The couple acquired the space to help far more at-risk boys in 1965 when Ray Carlson sold them his 500-acre property and 27-room mansion on the Wolf River outside New London for less than half his asking price. Carlson planned to sell the land for development of a subdivision until he learned the Gillespies dreamed of using the land to serve disadvantaged youth. That is where Rawhide officially began.
John and Jan Gillespie spent five years combing through decades of journals and memories as well as interviewing alumni to piece together all this history. In that time, Jan Gillespie fought bone cancer and broke her hip, leg and shoulder. But her memory stayed sharp and the Gillespies finished writing the book three months before she died of a heart attack in January 2017.
“I’m so delighted that we were able to get the book completed before her passing, and to be able to have those stories preserved is great,” he said.
John Gillespie has spent the summer selling the book on a tour throughout the state. His next local stop will be Thursday, Aug. 9 at 4 p.m. at Whistler’s Knoll Vineyard, N2845 State Highway 15, Hortonville.
Whistler’s Knoll owners Tom and Holly Boettcher are featured in “Our 351 Sons.” Tom Boettcher was a Rawhide alum while Holly Boettcher was summer help who worked with the horses and served the boys meals.
“Our 351 Sons” will also be available at Rawhide Boys Ranch’s monthly Friday fish fries. The last three dinners of 2018 will be Aug. 17, Sept. 21 and Oct. 19 beginning at 4 p.m. at E7475 Rawhide Road, New London.