Addie Gillespie

Addie Lee Gillespie (née Burroughs) threw in the towel on Thursday, June 25th, 2015. She could have been a contender, as she was apt to tell you, quoting Marlon Brando's character from "On The Waterfront." But unlike the disgraced boxer in the film, Addie Lee never threw a fight.

A native of Odessa and a graduate of OHS and Hardin Simmons University, Addie Lee had a flamboyant sense of style and a dramatic flair that was evident since her childhood. There she is in a photograph, barely twelve years, pointing her toes and tilting her head for the camera in coquette fashion, flashing a vibrant smile. She was a romantic. She was combative. She was available for adventure. Her adolescent clique was called, The Cutthroats.

She was no patron of organized religion, but she adored the Baby Jesus and rabidly defended the Christian faith.

She authored one children's book, produced one independent film and orchestrated numerous grassroots happenings. She cultivated and mastered an idiosyncratic school of decor and fashion that might be termed, "High Thrift." It was sublime.

The Imperial based troubadour, Bart Reid, had this to say of Addie Lee and her late husband, "....the most awesome people that ever let me drink their booze, read their books, and share their life."

She appreciated art, music, film and literature, but recoiled from the digital age. She may have found her fortune had she been born three hundred years prior - A pirate queen, perhaps, swashbuckling her way across the seas, a cutlass in her right, a bottle of rum in her left, and like Lancaster, wielding that legendary smile.

Addie Lee Gillespie is survived by three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Her family gratefully acknowledges the staff of Buena Vida, and the agents and individuals from Saint Joseph's Home Health and Home Hospice for their compassion and care.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to your local humane shelters. She could not resist a stray.

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Cemetery