PETERSHAM – Army and National Guard veteran Patric Gillespie is one of two people running in the special election to fill a vacancy on the Petersham Selectboard.
Gillespie is running against Michael Shamgochian, a law professor at Worcester State University. This will be Gillespie’s first foray into electoral politics.
The winner in the election will serve the eight months left in the term of Danny Stair, who resigned from the board earlier this year. Stair had mounted a successful write-in campaign in the September 2025 special election to fill the seat vacated by Josh Cayea, who had been elected to a three-year term in the 2024 Annual Town Election.
A native of Orange, Gillespie graduated from Franklin County Technical School in 2000. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he spent 15 years in the infantry. Following this, he served with the Massachusetts National Guard until 2022. He also served as a police officer in Barre for five years, in Petersham for six months and in Warren for two years.
Currently, Gillespie is enrolled at Greenfield Community College, majoring in graphic arts.
“I have my own business, which I started when I was in police work,” he said. “I do a lot of woodworking and I’m trying to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of graphic design.”
His business, Cast Iron Oak, is located at this home on Hardwick Road.
Asked about his decision to run for office, Gillespie said, “I have a lot of friends here in town, I did police work here. I really enjoy this community and I thought it would be good way to get involved.
“I’m a very analytical person,” he continued. “I like to look at different ways to solve problems. There always seems to be some dissonance in town on the way to do things. We have a group of people who’d like to keep things the same as they are; we have another group of people who’d like to make it a little more modern. I’d like to be a bridge to bring the two sides together to get things done.”
His wife Jessica, he said, is very supportive of his decision to run for Selectboard.
“She thought it was a good idea. She thinks it’s something I’d be good at and, when she said that, I decided I guess I have to,” he said with a chuckle.
Gillespie said he moved to Petersham five years ago to be closer to his job as a police officer in Barre.
“One thing I like about this town is you can know just about everybody,” he said. “You know the members of the Selectboard, the police chief, the fire chief, anyone. I know everyone in town; I know who to call about just about anything. In the Army, and even as a police officer, it was all about paperwork. But here, it’s more personal. I really enjoy the small-town feel.
“I just want people to know that, if I’m elected, I’ll be working for them,” Gillespie added. “I want to do what they want. They just need to let me know what they want and I’ll fight for them.”
Polls for the Aug. 24 special election will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Balloting will take place at Town Hall, 1 South Main St. In addition to choosing a new member for the Selectboard, voters will also be asked to decide on two Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusions.