Longtime band director gets commemorative street name
Ron Keller, who led his last Naperville Municipal Band concert last week after 57 years as the group’s director and 70 years as a member, has been honored by the city of Naperville with an honorary street designation.
Central Park Road is now “Ron Keller Commemorative Way.” The director emeritus was presented with a sign bearing the moniker at Tuesday’s night’s Naperville City Council meeting.
Keller, 84, stepped down from his longstanding post following the band’s Aug. 10 concert in Central Park attended by an estimated 3,000 peope.
Mayor Scott Wehrli said the city’s band is now one of the premier community groups in the country thanks to Keller, whom he lauded for his commitment.
Keller thanked the council members, community members and everyone
who came to the concerts.
“Naperville was only 28 years old when the band was formed, and it’s still here and thriving because of all the support we get,” he said.
As a music teacher at Jefferson Junior High for 26 years and the music coordinator at Naperville School District 203 for 18 years, Keller also taught
thousands of Naperville students how to play and perform music.
Emily Binder, the municipal band’s assistant conductor, will succeed Keller, who said he expects to assist as they transition to a new leadership and will guest conduct from time to time.
“It’s been a great run and I have a great bunch of people who play in the band that are very understanding and realize it’s time,” he said. “I don’t want them thinking, boy, that old guy should have quit a long time ago. So I’m going out on top.”
An open house honoring Keller will be held from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873 in Naperville.
In his retirement, he plans to spend time traveling to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he said in an interview with the Naperville Sun.
Keller became the director of the Naperville Municipal Band in 1965, following the death of his mentor, longtime band director Elmer Koerner.
He was following a path started by his great-grandfather, Joseph Bapst, a bugler and cornet player, who served as band director in the 1870s and 1880s. His parents played in the band for many years as did his daughters, and his wife Vicki, is a band member today.
He set his goal at a very young age, he said.
“I’m going to play in that band someday,” he remembered saying as a child.
Keller began playing tuba when he was in the third grade and first appeared with the Naperville Municipal Band as a soloist in 1951.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Northern Illinois University and started his four-decades-long career teaching music in Milledgeville, a small town in northwestern Illinois. He also taught at Dwight High School before returning to Naperville.
“It’s just been a great career,” Keller said of his teaching and municipal band years.
To see Keller’s final concert, go to www.nctv17. org/community-events/ keller-passes-thebaton-at-his-final-naper ville-municipal-concert.