The Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School honored their Distinguished Alumni Award Winner during the Wall of Fame Ceremony on March 2. Mrs. Marcia Jo Clore (Marcy Gillespie; Class of 1969) was recognized as the 2025 Distinguished Alumni.
Mrs. Gillespie: Marcia Jo Clore was born in Harrisburg, Illinois, on October 2, 1951 to Frank and Marcheta Clore of Carrier Mills. Marcia was the second child, having an older brother, Larry.
While in High School, Marcy was in Student Council for 3 years, a Librarian for 3 years, the FHA Vice President her Junior year, the FHA President her Senior year, a member of the Color Guard for 3 years, Color Guard Captain her Senior year, she won an English award her Freshman year, an Algebra award her Freshman and Junior years, a Biology Award her Sophomore year, she was a Co-Ed Correspondent her Junior year, a member of the Prom Committee her Junior year, a member of the Homecoming Committee her Senior year, a Marshal at the Baccalaureate and Graduation her Junior year, a Harvest Queen Candidate her Senior year, she received the DAR Good Citizenship award her Senior year, a Pep Club member for 4 years, and she was the Valedictorian of her Senior Class. A very high ACT score in math along with being inspired to be a mathematics teacher by her Geometry teacher, Mr. Raymond Lippert, helped her pursue a career in teaching high school mathematics.
After graduating from the Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School in 1969, Marcy attended Southeastern Illinois College where she earned her Associate in Science Degree. Also, at SIC, she was the Math Club President, the Phi Theta Kappa Vice-President, the Student Council Vice President, the Baptist Student Union Secretary, a candidate for Miss Southeastern, she won the Marvin Barnett Good Citizenship Memorial Scholarship, and the June Rice Malan Memorial Math Award. After earning her associate’s degree, she transferred to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education and a Master’s Degree in Mathematics, graduating magna cum laude. During this time, she was a non-credit math instructor for SIU-C and she was a research assistant.
After graduating from SIU-C, Mrs. Gillespie began working at the Harrisburg High School in August of 1973. She worked there for 32 years, until she retired in 2006. Throughout that time, she taught Refresher Mathematics, Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Statistics & Probability, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and Advanced Placement Calculus AB. She was a co-sponsor of Mu Alpha Theta, the Statistics Club, Youth for Christ, White Hats, a Class Sponsor, and she served as coach of the Math Team for several years. In the summer of 1982, she taught math courses at SIC. Mrs. Gillespie participated in and served as a facilitator for a Pilot Project to promote Advanced Placement courses in southern Illinois. She became a Delta Teachers Academy fellow and was a coordinator of the Delta Team of Math and Science teachers from Harrisburg. Marcy had the opportunity to be involved in two week internships for three summers in which she job shadowed in math related careers. These included engineers, architects, surveyors, and accountants. As a result of her job shadowing at Edward Jones, Mrs. Gillespie and Mr. Michael Stewart developed a hypothetical stock market investment project for her Statistics class. This project was followed by the Daily Register and it was featured on WSIL TV-3 News as a Class Act.
After her retirement, Mrs. Gillespie tutored students in math in 2006 & 2007, she taught Math 205 at SIC in the Spring semester of 2007, she tutored students for the ACT in 2007 & 2008, and she taught math part time at the Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Although she is retired, Mrs. Gillespie still finds ways to make a positive difference in the lives of others. She enjoys volunteering in the Helping Hands program at the 4C’s, she volunteers at the Pregnancy Resource Center, and she helps with mission projects through the Harrisburg First Baptist Women on Mission organization.
Marcy has two children, Phillip and April. She has six grandchildren and 4 great-children. Mrs. Gillespie currently lives in Carrier Mills and is a member of the 1st Baptist Church in Harrisburg.