Shepley family asks for donations to city, scholarship

The family of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley is asking the community to send donations to the city for the beautification of the Three Oaks Recreation Area or to the Crystal Lake Strikers for scholarships, instead of sending them flowers.

The city's longest-serving mayor, who died Sunday night at age 56, was a lifelong Crystal Lake resident. He spent two years as a city council member from 1997 to 1999 and worked as vice president and senior associate general counsel at Northwestern Medicine,

In his spare time, Shepley enjoyed sports and action photography, and drumming. He eventually transformed his love of drumming into the Strikers, a well-known drum line that has marched hundreds of miles in local parades, performed on TV and donated about $50,000 in college scholarships.

On their website, the Crystal Lake Strikers have a donation page people can contribute to clstrikers.com/donate.

In a news release, the Shepley family said the community suffered a devastating loss, and they greatly appreciate the outpouring of kindness and gifts.

"Aaron loved this city and was proud to call it home. He was particularly proud of being one of the co-founders of the Crystal Lake Strikers. The Strikers have grown into a visible symbol of our community and will forever be part of the Shepley family," said Regan Shepley, Aaron Shepley's wife. "We are so grateful for the wonderful outpouring of support but in lieu of flowers we would suggest a donation to the Strikers."

The Shepley family said that what started as an opportunity for the mayor to show off his new drumming skills in 2008, grew into one of the most popular entertainment acts in the Chicago area.

"The organization has expanded to fulfill Aaron's vision of providing education to local students. He was immensely proud of the programs involving more than 100 students that the Strikers run," the family said. "More than one former student has reached out describing a personal touch Aaron made to encourage them when they were struggling. He loved the brothers, sisters and extended family that the Strikers became to him."

Brett Hopkins, one of the other co-founders of the Strikers, along with Shepley and Thomas Kundmann, said the organization's plan is to use any donations to help fund some of the educational groups that are part of the organization.

"I am very certain that in the near future we will have a scholarship set up in (Shepley's) name," Hopkins said.

Each year, typically on one of the last Saturdays in February, the Strikers host a show called "An Evening of Percussion" at the Raue Center in Crystal Lake, which is when this scholarship would most likely be given out.

"We have six different educational programs, so we use all money that we collect to kind of help fund each one of those individual programs," Hopkins said.

Shepley was the one who approached Kundmann and Hopkins to see what they could do to bring music back to parades, Hopkins said.

They came up with the idea of a marching drum line, which became the Crystal Lake Strikers, he said, and what happened since has exceeded their expectations tenfold.

"(We) started out as a group of middle-aged men, 30 middle-aged men, doing parades; we now have over a hundred different students," Hopkins said.

Losing Shepley has been tough on the whole organization.

"Not only was Aaron instrumental in starting it, but he was also one of the members," Hopkins said. "He actually played with us, so he got to know all the different people that were involved."

Hopkins also worked with Shepley as a member of Crystal Lake's city council, calling them "one big family."

Although they don't always vote the same way, at the end of the day, they walk out as one team, Hopkins said.

"There is really no conflict amongst the City Council, which is a rare thing to have in these days," Hopkins said. "I think a lot of that is attributed just to Aaron's leadership and his personality to kind of foster that type of atmosphere."

If he had to sum up Shepley's personality in one word, Hopkins would use "integrity."

"Aaron has always had a strong sense of integrity and lived by that," Hopkins said.

In an email, Melanie Nebel, executive assistant in the Crystal Lake city manager's office, said the city is focused on paying tribute to and celebrating the Shepley's life.

"Out of respect for the family, the attention is presently on helping the community grieve the loss," Nebel said. "At the appropriate time, as prescribed by the Illinois Municipal Code, the vacancy for the office of mayor will be filled. The family will announce memorial details when necessary."

• Prior reporting from Senior Reporter Katie Smith contributed to this report