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Extraordinary evening celebrates an extraordinary life
Sharon and Ted Popielewski of Hawthorn Woods. | Natasha Wasinski~For Sun-Times Media
WHAT: No Ordinary Evening
WHEN: April 28, 2012
BENEFITING: Declan Drumm Memorial Fund and Horizons for Youth
WHERE: Navy Pier Grand Ballroom, Chicago
ATTENDED: 700+
RAISED: $600,000+
Article Extras
Updated: July 30, 2012 5:17PM
More than 700 guests dined and danced the night away in Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom April 28 in remembrance of an extraordinary son, brother, friend and University of Notre Dame student who marched to his own beat.
The inaugural No Ordinary Evening event honored one life — that of Declan Drumm Sullivan — by impacting hundreds of others.
The 20-year-old Long Grove resident and graduate of Carmel High School in Mundelein died in October 2010 while videotaping a Notre Dame football team practice.
Accepting the tragedy as an accident, his parents, Barry Sullivan and Alison Drumm, created a memorial in his name to benefit Horizons for Youth, an organization committed to helping lower-income Chicago students graduate from high school to achieve their full potential.
Throughout the evening family members shared their favorite Declan anecdotes, like how at age 5 he nearly jumped off the concrete edge of Navy Pier, not too far from where the event was held.
“He didn’t understand what all the fuss was about,” Drumm said. “He was always getting lost, probably because he wanted to. He was fearless.”
Siblings Wyn and Mac said Declan’s favorite line from the movie “American Beauty” reflected his passions and values: “I don’t think there is anything worse than being ordinary.”
Daniel Dowling, a teacher at De La Salle Institute in Chicago whose students benefit from Horizons for Youth, said the event was “one of the greatest celebrations of life that I’ve ever seen.”
