Russell Hardy Dean Gillespie (Hardy) was born August 31, 1921 in Jacksonville, Florida, the only child of William Colfax Gillespie and Helen Leslie Dean Gillespie. The little family moved to Neptune Beach around 1930 where he began his lifelong love of the Ocean. After the loss of his father in 1937, he worked with his mother operating a photography studio while attending Landon High School. Hardy was studying at Tulane University of Louisiana when World War II was declared. He quickly enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve and put his experience to good use as a Photographers Mate stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, Pensacola, Florida and Gainesville, Georgia where he met his future wife, Mary Drusilla May (Dru). They married in her home town of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in January, 1945. Following his military service, he continued his education in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan garduating from its College of Medicine in 1950. The young intern then returned to his beloved Neptune Beach with his bride and their baby girl, Patricia. Hardy fulfilled his residency requirements at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville. In 1953 a son, Dean, was born and the family was set for several years living in the upstairs of a two story home at the Beach with Hardy's mother residing in a small apartment on the first floor. He moved from General Practice to Pediatrics to Obstetrics, and toward the end of his career, Family Practice, although he spent most of his career in Obstetrics. One year Hardy delivered 365 children averaging one a day and overall was responsible for the safe delivery of enough children to populate a small town. Impeccably honorable, he was very well respected in his community and was instrumental in the creation of the Beaches Hospital in Jacksonville Beach where he served as its first Chief of Staff. Hardy demonstrated yet another talent by designing a small, but award winning medical office building right at his dining room table having taught himself drafting. After 23 years he and Dru divorced and Hardy married Patricia White, a talented Registered Nurse. He adopted her son, Lee, and a year or so later the new union was blessed with a son, Doug. Besides family and the Beach, Hardy enjoyed his pets, fishing, tinkering, and photography throughout his life. He was an avid Wolverine fan and rarely missed an opportunity to watch a game especially if it was against Ohio State and broadcast from the Big House. Although he survived two separate bypass operations, Hardy was taken from us in 1989 ultimately the victim of his weakened heart. His body was cremated and the ashes were scattered at sea in a service performed by the US Navy.