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It’s a family tradition

By Sarah Chuby ’03

Throughout the football stadium, Chippewa fans are on their feet. Their voices carry the words of the CMU Fight Song. Maroon and Gold pennants proudly wave.

For a moment, Chippewa Marching Band member William “Bill” Shephard stops playing his trombone.

Bill, ’76 MA ’83, has to take in all of the sights, sounds, and excitement of CMU’s first football game in what then was the new Perry Shorts Stadium on November 4, 1972. It was the last football game of his freshman year.

“I came from a small town and never heard anything so incredible before,” he says during a June visit to the now named Kelly/Shorts Stadium. “With the roar of the crowd as we entered the field and the great musicians around me, I thought, ‘This is a once in a lifetime moment.’” 

But Bill, now a successful Freeland Community Schools band director, continues to relive that moment – through his sons.

Matthew Shephard, ’01 MM ’06, served as the Marching Chippewas drum major from 1998 to 2001.

“When Matthew came to CMU, it brought back a flood of great memories,” says Bill, who was a drum major in high school.

Now CMU senior David Shephard is the Chippewa Marching Band’s drum major. “I get to experience it all over again. Words cannot express what I feel,” proud dad Bill says.

Teasing his little brother, Matthew says he’s not surprised that David wanted to
be a drum major.

“He always copies what I do,” says Matthew, who is a band director for Meridian Public Schools – 15 miles away from dad’s school. David wants to be a band director, too.
“I know a way that I am different than you,” David says with a mischievous smile.

“I can still fit into my band uniform.”

Playing from the heart

In front of the stadium gates – on the sunny June day – Bill, Matthew, and David hold onto their band uniforms, each in a different style. Elizabeth Shephard, ’76, takes photos of her husband and two sons.

But that doesn’t mean the six-member family, which also includes sons Steven and Ryan, are the Partridge Family. “It’s not like we all gathered around the piano after dinner to sing,” Matthew says. “Music feels natural. It’s something we enjoy. It’s a part of us.”

The boys say they always were around music. They attended their father’s band concerts when they were less than a month old. And they’ve attended CMU Band Day since infancy.

Since the two brothers grew up with CMU, attending their parents’ alma mater was an easy decision – especially since they both wanted to go into music and teaching.

“For a minute, I thought about being a lawyer,” Matthew says. “But I couldn’t imagine not being around music. And I just wanted to pass on my love of music to others.” The Shephard family nods in agreement.

Matthew says while attending CMU he learned many outside-the-classroom lessons from then-Band Director Jack Saunders, ’60, ’65. Saunders died in 2005 at age 66.

“Jack Saunders always remembered everybody’s name. He even knew how to spell everyone’s name correctly,” Matthew says. “He has inspired me to do the same for my students. He was an incredible man.”

And Jack was the assistant director when Bill attended CMU.

“He was a life long friend and a mentor of mine. Jack affected all of our lives,” Bill says. “I was pleased the boys chose him as a role model.”

The marching band has provided all three men with life long friends, valuable lessons, networking, and an appreciation for tradition.

“Despite the changes in uniforms and directors, certain traditions are carried on. And the music always brings you back,” says Bill, with his eyes closed. “I can still picture marching on the field.”

During Homecoming 2007, the Shephard family will visit Kelly/Shorts Stadium and watch son David lead the Marching Chippewas.

And Bill will once again experience Chippewa fans on their feet, their voices carrying the words of the CMU Fight Song, and Maroon and Gold pennants proudly waving. •

From left, Matthew, ’01 MM ’06; David, CMU senior; and their father Bill Shephard, ’76 MA ’81, show their Marching Chippewa band uniforms.