Brownye Hill Gillespy

Brownye Hill Gillespy passed away on September 20, 2023 at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster, Alabama. She was born August 3, 1929 in Birmingham Alabama to Brown Gregory and Eunice Skinner Hill. She graduated from Shades Cahaba High School and attended Birmingham-Southern College before marrying George R. Barnard, Jr. in 1948. The young couple moved to Fairhope, AL, a part of the world she always loved and to which she returned many times over the years. She worked in a dress shop in Columbia, SC while George served in the military during the Korean War, and as a library assistant in the Auburn University Library while he attended Auburn, a job she loved and which gave her an enduring love for books. Her first marriage ending in divorce, she married Thomas Clayton Gillespy—the love of her life--in 1963.

Brownye was a woman of many gifts, but perhaps one of her greatest was the gift of friendship—both in the kindness she extended to others and her magnetism in attracting the love and admiration of other people. She grew up an only child in Homewood, AL, and as a mother would often tell her children—when they complained of one another—that she always wished she’d had brothers and sisters when she was their age. She loved her sisters-in-law Gerry Gillespy and Adelaide MacLeod, and over the years she developed a circle of additional “aunts” for her children—Jane Kennedy, Corinne Ray, Ginny Gillespie, Margaret McLane, and Pat Bullard among other dear friends. These women were her sisters, their husbands her brothers, and she found as an adult the warm surrounding circle she so missed as a girl.

Although she felt her calling was to be a wife and mother, her interests ranged beyond her home. She grew up in Homewood playing outdoors, going horseback riding, swimming in the summers at the Hollywood Country Club, and forging friendships that would last lifetimes. She especially loved summer stays at Camp Winnataska. Active and athletic, she was a cheerleader in high school and maintained a love for the outdoors, swimming, walking, spending time at the beach and in the mountains, and even driving in a sports car race.

After settling with Tom and her family in Bluff Park, she became active in a number of pursuits, serving on the board of the Bluff Park Elementary School PTA, as a Cub Scouts Den Mother, and as president of the Letitian Literary Club, in which she was an active member for many years. Brownye and Tom were faithful members of Bluff Park United Methodist Church, where they attended the Opportunity adult Sunday School class, and where Brownye participated in United Methodist Women’s Circles. She was a co-founder of the Do-Nothing Club, organized with friends to do exactly what the name implied as a break from all her other involvements.

In 1983, Brownye and Tom fulfilled a dream by acquiring land in Chilton County, leaving Bluff Park for what became known as “the farm,” where Tom raised cattle and Brownye was able to indulge in her love for gardening and the outdoors. They became active members of Montevallo United Methodist Church, where Tom sang in the choir and served on the board, and Brownye was involved in the UMW Joy Circle, the Care and Contact Committee, the Kitchen Committee, Prayer Paracletes and the MacMillan Sunday School class. She dearly loved the friends she made through the church, and their care and concern for her as she entered her last days touched her deeply.

She was also a member of the Montevallo Garden Club, in which she served on various committees over the years, was active on the Arbor Board, where she was a tireless advocate for the planting of trees, and was a member of the Montevallo Study Club.

Brownye is survived by her husband of 60 years, Tom; sons George Gregory and Dean Scott Barnard (Lisa); daughter Brownye Katherine Brannon (Chris); grandsons Thomas Clayton Brannon and John Dalton Pavlica (Jasmine); granddaughter Laura Leigh Long (Joel); and five great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on October 18, 2023 at the First United Methodist Church of Montevallo, with a visitation at 1:00 p.m. and service at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in memory be made to First United Methodist Church of Montevallo Heritage Fund, or Montevallo's Parnell Library.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.rockcofuneralmontevallo.com for the Gillespy family.