Jessie Gillespie Willing

Jessie Gillespie Willing (March 28, 1888 - August 1, 1972) was an American illustrator during the Golden Age of illustration. She was considered the foremost silhouette illustrator of her time, although she did do traditional illustration as well. Willing illustrated for books and magazines including Life, The Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Mother and Child, McClure's Magazine, Childhood Education, the Sunday Magazine, Association Men (the magazine of the YMCA), Farm and Fireside, Every Week, Children: The Magazine for Parents (which became Parents Magazine), and the American Magazine. She is perhaps most well known for her work for the Girl Scouts. 
==Early Life==
Willing was born in Brooklyn on March 28, 1888 to John Thomson Willing (August 4, 1860 - July 8, 1947) and Charlotte Elizabeth Van Der Veer Willing (December 1, 1859 - March 4, 1930). Thomson Willing was a noted illustrator and art editor. He was also well known for finding new artistic talent. Jessie Willing was the eldest of three children. Her brother Van Der Veer (November 30, 1889 - January 14, 1919), who died of pneumonia at the age of 29, was an advertising agent. Her sister Elizabeth Hunniwell Willing (July 26, 1908 - August 15, 1991) was one of the first women to graduate from the Philadelphia Divinity School. Elizabeth married the Rev. Orrin Judd, rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, on September 22, 1931, and was active in church work.
The Willing family moved to the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1901 or 1902, and Jessie Willing attended the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts 1906-1907.. 
==Career==
Willing used her middle name Gillespie as her professional surname. She also often signed her illustrations J.G. The story goes that the art editor of Life magazine was in Thomson Willing's office when he was the art editor of the Associated Sunday Magazine syndicate. Thomson Willing had some of Jessie's artwork on his desk, which the Life editor saw and admired. He asked for the artist's information so that he could give her freelance work. Thomson Willing did not want to be accused of nepotism so he persuaded Jessie to use Jessie Gillespie as her professional, which she did.
In addition to her extensive illustration work, Willing was also the editor of Heirlooms and Masterpieces from 1922 to 1931 and the art editor of Jewelers' Circular-Keystone from 1933 to 1939.
==Illustrations in Books==
* With Tongue and Pen--Frederick Bair, et al. (MacMillan, 1940)
* Masoud the Bedouin--Alfred Post Carhart (Missionary Education Movement, 1915)
* The Path of the Gopatis--Zilpha Carruthers (National Dairy Council, 1926)
* The Schoolmaster and His Son: A Narrative of the Thirty Years War--Karl Heinrich Caspari (Lutheran Publication Society, 1917)
* On a Rainy Day--Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Sarah Scott Fisher (A.S. Barnes and Co., 1938)
* Book of Games for Home, School and Playground--William B. Forbush and Harry R Allen (John C. Winston, 1927)
* Making Life Count--Eugene C. Foster (Interchurch Press, 1918)
* Precious Books: Why and Where They are Treasured--Jessie Gillespie (A.T. Walraven Book Cover Co., 1933)
* The Story of Little Goody Two-Shoes--(Grossett & Dunlap, 1944)
* The Wisdom of Professor Happy, by the Professor Himself--Cliff Goldsmith (Child Health Organization of America, 1922)
* Cho-Cho and the Health Fairy--Eleanor Glendower Griffith (MacMillan Co., 1922)
* Grain Through the Ages--Grace T. Hallock (Quaker Oats Co., 1931)
* A Flower of Monterey: A Romance of the Californias--Katherine B. Hamill (The Page Company, 1921)
* Miss Gay's Adventures in First Aid, Series No. II: Artificial Respiration and the Need for Inhalators--Margaret Daly Hopkins (Hopkins Chart Co. 1936)
* Ann of Ava--Ethel Daniels Hubbard (Missionary Education Movement, 1913)
* The Moffats--Ethel Daniels Hubbard (Missionary Education Movement, 1917)
* Spending the Day in China, Japan and the Philippines--Sally Lucas Jean and Grace T. Hallock (Harper and Brothers, 1932)
* A Lovely Gate Set Wide: A Book of Catholic Verse for Young Readers--Sister Patrice Margaret (The Bruce Publishing Co., 1946)
* The Pageant of Protestantism: Celebrating the Quadricentennial of the Reformation--Harriet Earhart Monroe (The Lutheran Publication Society, 1917)
* Is this Tomorrow?--A. E. Osmond (Ernest Benn, 1949)
* All Around the clock: Tales of Service and Sport--George Frederick Park (The Lutheran Publication Society, 1917)
* Grif of Greenbrier Farm--George Frederick Park (The Lutheran Publication Society, 1917)
* Everychild's Book Illustrated--Antoinette Rotan Peterson (MacMillan Company, 1922)
* Rhymes of Cho Cho's Grandma--Mrs. Frederick Peterson (Children's Health Organization of America, 1920)
* Living with the Family--Hazel Huston Price (Little, Brown and Co., 1942)
* The Knight in Grey: A Historical Novel--Marie E. Richard (The Lutheran Publication Society, 1913)
* The Honey Pot,Or, In the Garden of Lelita--Norval Richardson (L.C. Page & Co., 1912)
* The Three Kings, translated from the German by Gustav Nieritz--Rebecca H. Schively (The Lutheran Publication Society)
* The Singing Weaver and Other Stories--Julius and Margaret Seebach (The Lutheran Publication Society, 1917)
* Other Peoples' Children--Margaret R. Seebach (The Lutheran Publication Society, 1914)
* Soldier Silhouettes on our Front--William Le Roy Stidger (Scribner, 1918)
* Star Dust from the Dugouts: A Reconstruction Book--William Le Roy Stidger (The Abingdon Press, 1919)
* Health--C.E. Turner and Georgie B. Collins (D.C. Heath and Company, 1924)
* The What-Shall-I-Do-Girl: Or, the Career of Joy Kent--Isabel Waitt (L.C. Page & Co., 1913)
* The Birds' Christmas Carol--Mrs. Kate D. Wiggin (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941)
* The Pleasuring of Susan Smith--Helen Maria Winslow (Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1912)
==Illustrations in Magazines==
Illustrations appearing in Life magazine:
* Adele--, A-Dell, “Adele!, July 9, 1914
* All, All are Gone, The Old Familiar Faces, April 7, 1910
* And I Sent Her Only a Christmas Card!, December 1, 1910
* At Any Matinee, April 15. 1909
* At the Afternoon Tea: ’The Ill-bred Line, August 1, 1912
* Baseball Term: “Perfect Control But No Speed, October 26, 1911
* Blessed Be the Tie That Binds, November 10, 1910
* Bride: Quick, John! There’s Another Grain!, March 17, 1910
* Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble, June 15, 1911
* The Date Palm and the Rubber Plant, July 31, 1919
* Desperation, Inspiration, Anticipation, Realization, March 1, 1915
* The Difference Between Counter Irritants and Counter Attractions, September 8, 1910
* A Directoire Wash Day, March 11, 1909
* Dutch Treat, May 28, 1914
* Grandmothers, March 11, 1909
* Hark the Herald Angels Sing, December 7, 1911
* In the Hands of the Receiver, December 7, 1916
* January First: God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen. Let Nothing You Dismay, December 29, 1910
* A Jug of Wine and Thou, March 31, 1910
* The Land(ing) of the Free, December 15, 1910
* Metamorphosis, April 29, 1909
* Miss’ill Toe The Mark, December 7, 1911
* The Modern Pied Piper, March 24, 1910
* More Speed, Less Haste, January 6, 1910
* Needs Must When Fashion Drives, March 2, 1911
* Oh, the Difference Between Kissing a Miss, and Missing a Kiss!, December 25, 1913
* Oh, Woman in Your Hours of Ease, October 13, 1910
* Palms, March 31, 1910
* Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men, December 2, 1909
* The Right Kind of ‘Protection, September 7, 1911
* Sister! As Others See Us, April 7, 1910
* So Thoughtful of You—Just What I Wanted, December 2, 1909
* Some are Born Rich, Some Achieve Riches, and Some Have Riches Thrust Upon Them
* Styles for 1909: But Where Do We Come In?, December 3, 1908
* Syncopation, Desperation, Renunciation, Abnegation, Consummation But ----ation, August 31, 1916
* The Theatre Train, March 9, 1911
* ’There was no room for them in the inn’.—St. Luke 2:7, December 2, 1915
* They Toil Not, Neither Do They Spin, March 3, 1910
* To Them That Hath, April 27, 1911
* Town and Country, May 6, 1909
* Trying Psycho-Physico Suggestion, September 22, 1910
* Valentines, February 2, 1911
* What Next? January 28. 1909
* The Woman Tempted Me and I Did Eat, March 23, 1911
* A Women’s Work is Never Done, November 26, 1908
==The Girl Scouts==
Willing was among the noted artists, including Lester Ralph, Margaret Evans Price, and Edith Ballinger Price, to create memorable illustrations for the Girl Scouts. Willing's silhouettes were used in handbooks, song books, certificates, postcards, Christmas cards, stationary, equipment catalogs, and the Girl Scout magazines, The Rally (1917-1920), The American Girl (1920 - ), and The Girl Scout Leader (1923 - 2009).
==The Parents Magazine Medal and the Boy's Club of NY Harkness Medal==
In 1927, Children, The Magazine for Parents created an award for the best book for parents, written by an American author and published during the year. Willing created the medal, which depicts the head of a young boy facing left with the inscription, "Puer melior, civis optimus," which translated means "The better the child, the better the citizen." Children, The Magazine for Parents changed its name to Parents' in 1929.
Willing is also credited with creating the image for the William Hale Harkness medal for the highest potential in leadership and citizenship for the Boys' Club of NY. The medal depicts three young boys facing right.
Category:1888 births
Category:People from Brooklyn
Category:American people
Category:American illustrators