John Madison Shephard has gone to the Record Store in the Sky where he is met with love by so many including his parents (Charles and Anne nee Gluchacki), his wife (Ann Hague-Shephard), his five brothers (Chuck, Steve, Bob, Joe, Jim), and his best friend Klop. He left behind his twins Katie and Chelsea, their respective partners Brian and Rodrigo, his sister Lexie, nieces and nephews (nephMANYs as he called them since they are so numerous), his confidant Lou, friends, former customers, and others from his 70-year orbit.

Born March 6, 1955, a proud Pisces, John always felt like a fish out of water. All his siblings had a close-in-age pair, but not John—plus he was the only C-section. When learning about the famous quote “No Man’s an Island,” his middle school classmate replied, “except Shep.”

John opened his beloved Bop Stop Record Shop in April 1985 right around the time he and Ann found out they were expecting a baby. The baby turned out to be twin girls—the most unusual offspring John could have since both families were full of mostly boys and had no history of twins. He put a baby picture of the twins in the store labeled “Owners.” He taught his daughters to dream, communicate about anything, that swear words were just adult words, that love was everything, and so much more.

John was also a writer and went by many names—Bopper, John E. Bop, Buddha Worthmore, Poppa Bop, Juan Shephardo. His magazine The Bag was a countercultural hit and he saved at least one person’s life with the suicide issue. He spoke his own language, coined Shepanese Johnsense. With his unique sense of humor, he once made a room full of professional comedians laugh. His personal philosophy involved uncanny, if not jarringly cool, coincidences and seeing lots of cosmically wacky connections with numbers.

John enjoyed long road trips and visited all 48 contiguous states that way. He loved baseball, and always rooted for the Detroit Tigers after losing a bet he made against them once as a kid. In the same magical year he met the love of his life and mother of his children, the Detroit Tigers won the World Series.

He was one-of-a-kind, hilarious, creative, loving, a basket full of contradictions, an artist, a rock music encyclopedia, a mentor, a great dad, and a human being.

He was so loved and will be so missed.

A Celebration of Life will take place during his birthday weekend. It will be held Saturday March 7th in Kalamazoo, MI exact location TBD.