Sherry D Schnepp

(March 28, 1948 — September 22, 2026)

Sherry Dee Schnepp, the beloved, larger-than-life community-theatre impresario who co-founded Our Gang Players and produced the company for 42 years on Long Beach Island, in Barnegat, and in Manahawkin, died peacefully at home on September 22, 2026. She was 78 years old.

Sherry was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1948. In April of that same year, she was adopted by Alvin Frederick “Fred” Hulick and Geraldine “Deana” Vandergrift Hulick, who named their new baby Sherry Dee Hulick. A few years later, Fred and Deana adopted a son, Ricky, giving Sherry a younger brother. They all lived in Macungie, PA, an Allentown suburb.

When Sherry was 10 years old, the family farmhouse burned down and the Hulick’s moved to Trenton, New Jersey. While in Trenton, Fred and Deana adopted another daughter, Angel. The family was now complete. Sherry took the role of ‘big sister’ very seriously and helped her mother care for her younger siblings. This marked the emergence of a powerful maternal nature within Sherry—one that would only grow stronger in the years to come.

Sherry attended Trenton Central High School, where she participated in oratory competitions. She always strove to be the best, but much to her everlasting frustration, she consistently took 2nd Place to local rival, Judith Light, who later became famous on the 1980s sitcom, Who’s the Boss?

As a teenager Sherry learned to play the organ, and on many nights the family would gather around to sing show tunes together. It was during this time that Sherry developed her lifelong love of musical theater. Sherry graduated from Trenton Central in 1966.

While working at Paul's Market on Long Beach Island in 1963, Sherry met and began dating Bruce Schnepp. The two were wed in 1968 and moved to Levittown, Pennsylvania, where Sherry worked as an X-Ray technician at Eastern State Hospital. In 1969, Sherry gave birth to their only child, Stacey Lee Schnepp.

The young family spent their summers in Barnegat Light until they made a permanent move there in 1974.

Sherry immediately became an active member of the Barnegat Light community. She joined the Ladies Auxiliary of the Barnegat Light Volunteer Fire Department and worked at the Lighthouse Marina. It was there that she met Nancy Gallimore and the two became fast friends. Feeling that the children of Barnegat Light needed an outlet for creative expression, Sherry and Nancy co-founded Our Gang Players, a community-based musical theatre company for local kids. The fledgling troupe held their rehearsals and performances in the social hall of the fire department on W. 10th St and Long Beach Boulevard.

The creation of Our Gang Players in 1977 marked the major turning point of Sherry’s life. In fact, it’s impossible to write about Sherry’s life without writing substantially about the life of Our Gang Players.

Following the success of their first production, Christmas Under the Sea, which Sherry and Nancy co-wrote, Our Gang Players (“Our Gang,” or just “O.G.,” as it eventually came to be called by longtime members) became, over the course of four decades, a local institution.

From 1977 to 2019, Our Gang grew from being a single company composed almost entirely of kids from the north end of the island, to boasting three separate companies, divided by age, with actors and stagehands joining from all over Ocean County. During that time, hundreds if not thousands of county residents—from pre-schoolers to octogenarians—participated in Our Gang productions, and thousands more engaged with Our Gang as audience members.

In time, the company outgrew the firehouse. After nearly a decade performing at Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven (1992-2000), Our Gang spent the bulk of the 2000s and 2010s as a somewhat itinerant troupe, performing first at the Edwards School in Barnegat, then at the Stafford Township Arts Center in Manahawkin, and finally back in Barnegat High School. Through all the changes and challenges, Sherry persevered. It ultimately took the full power of a global pandemic in early 2020 to ring the curtain down on Our Gang Players.

But it wasn’t the “what” of Our Gang—the history, the numbers of participants, the quality of the performances, the longevity—that made this little theatre company so special. It was the “how.” And that “how” was a direct reflection of Sherry’s heart, soul, and values.

In 42 years, Sherry never once turned anyone away from Our Gang. If a person wanted to perform, Sherry put them on stage. Auditions served not to eliminate the less talented but instead were opportunities for Sherry to love people into believing in themselves and to reward their courage with roles in the show! For the kid who couldn’t carry a tune, Sherry would love them into believing they were Mandy Patinkin or Bernadette Peters. For the kid with two left feet, Sherry would love them into thinking they were Gene Kelly or Cyd Charisse. And this treatment wasn’t reserved for people under the age of 18, because Sherry’s great gift was seeing—and loving, and accepting—the kid in everyone, young and old alike. Her maternal instincts, even toward those decades older than herself, earned her the moniker by which most O.G. members and alumni affectionately addressed her until her dying day: Momma.

For at least the first 20 years of Our Gang, Sherry refused to impose even nominal participation fees. In those days, on Sundays from September to June—and later, throughout the summers, too—parents could drop their kids off at the theatre with a brown bag lunch at 10am and pick them up at 5pm. In between, the amateur thespians sang, danced, memorized lines, laughed, cried, triumphed, failed, gained confidence, had their first crushes, and made lifelong friends. No one paid a dime for the experience. Later, when financial realities made it necessary to create a registration fee, Sherry ensured that no one was ever turned away for lack of funds.

Sherry was never motivated by money. Through the years, she worked at several jobs—Get Plastered crafts, Five Fathoms Farm Market, and Beach Blossoms flower shop (all of which she owned or co-owned with Fred and Deana in Barnegat Light); a medical assistant at a local doctor's office and later, at St. Francis of Assisi Parish as a Senior Service Specialist—but her purpose and her passion were always Our Gang. There was no place on Earth Sherry would rather be than standing in front of a curtain on opening night, wearing her fanciest costume jewelry and her most audacious sequined gown, welcoming a sold-out audience and inviting them to celebrate the hard work of her “babies.”

In exchange for all she gave to others, those who were lucky enough to learn from her, to work with her, and to create with her repaid her with their own love and affection, with their devotion, and with their gratitude. Sherry was a loyal friend and mentor who was always ready with a warm hug, a pat on the back, and a shoulder to cry on. Her actors knew that if they heard her high-pitched stab of a laugh coming from the back of the house, they were doing something right!

In the midst of stewarding Our Gang through so many changes, perhaps the most welcomed change came in 2005 with the birth of her only grandchild, Riley Stoops. Sherry and Riley shared a special bond. She delighted in watching him grow up and was tremendously proud not only of his many academic accomplishments, but also of his kind and thoughtful demeanor. Sherry found it deeply meaningful that Riley chose to study mechanical engineering, just like her father, Fred, who had died several years before Riley was born.

Over the years, Sherry was the recipient of numerous honors and accolades for her work with Our Gang. These included formal recognition by the New Jersey State Legislature for Excellence in Community Service; induction into the National Exchange Club’s Book of Golden Deeds; the Perry Awards’ Community Theatre of the Year Award; and the Southern Ocean County Women Helping Women Award.

Sherry leaves behind an indelible and far-reaching legacy. Many Our Gang alumni have gone on to forge successful careers in the performing arts industry—as actors, directors, choreographers, musicians, technicians, stagehands, and teachers. But untold numbers more will point to Our Gang and to Sherry as the origin points of their enduring confidence and self-esteem, of their ability to converse fluently with people from all walks of life, of their capacity for improvisation and problem-solving, of their creativity and their artistry, and, most importantly, of their own expansive, judgement-free sense of our shared humanity.

It is certain that many hundreds of people—hailing from Long Beach Island, from Lacey, from Tuckerton, and from every township in between—will greet the news of Momma’s passing with deep reflections upon what were some of the most precious, joy-filled, formative and meaningful days of their lives.

Sherry is survived by her daughter, Stacey Lee Schnepp and husband Kevin Stoops of Manahawkin, NJ; her grandson, Riley Frederick Stoops; her stepdaughter, Heather Rudolph and step-granddaughter Ambrosia Lacey of Manahawkin, NJ; her brother, Rick Hulick and wife Janet of Little Egg Harbor, NJ; her sister Angel Curran and husband Patrick of Laguna Beach, CA; her niece Melanie Hulick of Little Egg Harbor, NJ; her grandniece, Avery Levance of Little Egg Harbor, NJ; and her ex-husband, Bruce Schnepp of Manahawkin, NJ. Sherry is predeceased by her parents, Alvin Frederick Hulick and Geraldine Catherine Vandergrift Hulick.

Services will be held on November 28, 2026, at Bayside Chapel, 965 W Bay Ave, Barnegat, NJ). Family visitation from 1-2:30pm. A Celebration of Sherry’s Life will begin at 2:30pm.

Photos of Sherry for the Celebration slideshow would be most welcomed. Please send yours to Stacey at [email protected].

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to support the establishment of The Sherry Schnepp Community Impact Scholarship, which will support graduating high school seniors who embody Sherry’s spirit and who use their talents to strengthen their community. The scholarship fund will be launched at the Celebration of Life on November 28, and details will be announced on social media afterward.