The Knights Drum and Bugle Corps

I posted this last night in the guestbook, since for some reason I can’t update the site from home. Anyway, some of you know him, many of you probably don’t, but Dale Hopper, former director of the Western Illinois University Marching Band and WIU Jazz Studio Orchestra passed away Friday evening.

I’m pretty sure that he was never actually directly involved in drum corps, other than writing a book in the ’77 called “Corps Style Marching” designed for marching bands to learn how to march like a drum corps. However, I know that there were quite a few Knights that attended WIU and were in the Marching Band and/or JSO.

For the Knights that knew him and might still be somewhat near Macomb, the visitation is today, Monday the 19th, from 4 to 8PM at Dodsworth-Piper-Wallen Funeral Home in Macomb. Funeral services will be at 11 AM, Tuesday the 20th, at Wesley United Methodist Church in Macomb.

For those of you who didn’t know him, here’s the official press release from WIU that will give you a little explanation. This is the article from the front page of the Sunday’s Macomb Journal.

Just a quick mention, in case some of you haven’t heard, but DCI will be on ESPN2 next week. It will be on Tuesday, September 6th at 9 PM Central time. Tell your friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested. For more info, visit http://www.dci.org/2npse/

Just got an email from Christian Fauchald, and he had a great idea. Now on the email list page, you will find a column that lists Location, where you are currently living. This is so if a Knight happens to be living 5 miles away from you, and you might not know it, you can get together. Or if a bunch of Knights in an area want to get together, you can find each other more easily. I’ve put in my location, along with a link to the Google Maps page for it, so you can see an example of what it’ll look like.

Of course, this is entirely optional, if you don’t want that information on the site, don’t email me the info, however, if you want to find other Knights more easily, and have Knights be able to find you, it would greatly help.

If you want that information posted, send an email with your name, city and state to scott@knightscorps.org, and if there’s other info on the email page that I don’t have for you, or that might be wrong (years marched, what you played/did, or email address), let me know.

One more thing, any female members who have different last names, I’m going to try to organize the list alphabetically by last name when you marched. The problem is, I didn’t march with most of you, so I don’t know which is your married name, and which is your maiden name. For anyone on the list who has a different last name from when you marched, please email me and let me know which name is which. Thanks in advance for your help.

Back from Geno’s visitation. I saw a few Knights there, and met some of Geno’s family that I hadn’t had a chance to meet before. I saw DJ (Dorothy Johnson), Bill and Phyllis Neulieb, Steve and Jane Scherer, the Chamberlain brothers (Tony, Matt, and Dan), and I met JP Herring and Charles St. Clair for the first time. I’m sure I saw some more Knights there that I didn’t recognize or get a chance to talk to.

I talked to DJ for a while, and she gave me her address to post on the website. You can reach her through the email listed, but that actually goes to Jeannie and then makes it’s way to DJ. She doesn’t have her own email address, but if anyone would like to write to her, her mailing address is posted on the email page.

Just a quick update, here’s a link to Geno’s obituary on the Fulton County Daily Ledger’s website – http://www.cantondailyledger.com/articles/2005/08/20/obits/obits14.txt

I apologize for not getting this info up here sooner, but for those of you who haven’t heard, Gene “Geno” Herring passed away last Tuesday (the 16th). JP posted this information in the guestbook on the 17th…

Hello Everyone,

J.P. Herring

followed by this information about the service…

Hello Everyone,

JP

Here’s the link to that DCI article he mentioned…
http://www.dci.org/news/news.cfm?news_id=fa088909-a889-47fd-b180-fd16637b31ad

I never knew Geno as well as many of you did, since he was already working for DCI when I started marching, but I do remember him stopping by a lot and checking up on us now and then. For me, Geno was the guy who kept the DCI shows running smoothly. At many shows, especially the big ones, he always seemed to be there on the sidelines, making sure everyhing was in order and on time.

Later, when I was in WIU’s marching band, we marched in a parade in Canton for a few years in a row….Geno was always there, helping Canton’s marching band, keeping an eye on things, and making sure everything ran smoothly.

I was able to see Geno earlier this summer at the Lisle, IL show and that’s when I found out about his condition. He told me he was going to be at some of the other large regional shows this summer too. I wished I would have had more time to talk to him, but he was busy keeping the show in order, and I was just heading back to the stands with two hot dogs in my hands.

From what I know, and from what I’ve heard from everyone else, Geno spent the last few months of his life doing what he really loved doing, taking care of the kids, and making sure everything was just right for the corps staff, judges, fans, and most importantly, the corps members.

Please, keep the Herring family in your hearts and your thoughts, just as Geno kept all of us in his.

Update…

A thread on drum corps planet about Geno, with other people’s memories and thoughts…
http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69081