3,500 Mourn Popular Teacher Gunned Down at School Dance

A popular teacher gunned down at a school dance was buried Tuesday after 3,500 mourners remembered him as an industrious family man and enthusiastic volunteer.

John Gillette, a former football hero who taught at Parker Middle School, was killed Friday at an eighth-grade dance. A 14-year-old student, Andrew Wurst, has been arrested.

Students in the area had the day off and many attended the funeral Mass in the basketball field house at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Gillette’s alma mater.

Gillette, 48, taught science, advised the student council and organized the annual graduation dance, where he was killed. He was a star discus thrower and football player at Northwestern High and later the football coach at the school.

The crowd of mourners included his former football players, rival coaches, residents whose patios and fireplaces he built as part of his side construction business and the entire university women’s volleyball team in team jackets.

Gillette’s daughter, Abby, plays for the volleyball team and his son, Matt, is an assistant for the football team.

“He was a great person, a great family man, a great coach and a great influence on a lot of young people. My heart goes out to his family,” said Rege O’Neil, once a rival football coach.

Mourners wore white ribbons that have been distributed around Edinboro since the shooting and received a four-page essay: “Is There An Answer to the Question of Evil?” written by James F. Drane, a friend of Gillette and philosophy professor at the university.

He was described by students as a man who lived by a motto of “anything that is worth doing is worth giving your best.”

Gillette is survived by his wife, Debbie, two daughters and a son.