SHELBYVILLE — E.C. “Chris” Eberspacher III of Shelbyville died at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, from injuries received as a pedestrian in a crosswalk in Fort Myers, Fla.

    The funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Shelbyville, with the Rev. Wade Helmkamp officiating. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery, Shelbyville. Visitation will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Lockart-Green Funeral Home, Shelbyville, with Masonic rites held at 7 p.m. The family asks that contributions be made to Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Boy Scouts of America-Troop 51 (Shelbyville) or Shelbyville Public Library. Condolences may be directed to the family at www.lockartgreenfuneralhome.com.

    He was born on Sept. 28, 1949, in Shelbyville to the late Judge Edward C. Eberspacher Jr. and Josephine Yantis Eberspacher. He married Jacqueline Dunaway on July 1, 1972, in Shelbyville. He graduated from Shelbyville High School and Culver Summer Naval School in 1967. 

    He received a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts and science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971, with high honors, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi social fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa academic fraternity.

    He was a recipient of a Rotary International Scholarship and studied at the University of Tel Aviv, Remat Aviv, Israel, for more than a year before entering law school. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1974 and was admitted to practice before the Illinois Supreme Court in 1974. He joined the firm of Dove & Dove, Attorneys at Law, as an associate that fall. 

    He was admitted to the bar of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1981 and was admitted to practice before the Central and Southern Districts of the U. S. District Court in Illinois. In 1976, he was elected State’s Attorney for Shelby County, a position in which he served until 1980, when he became a partner with the firm of Dove & Dove. 

    Thereafter, in addition to his general practice, he served as Special Prosecutor for Fayette County, Special State’s Attorney for Shelby County, by appointment of the Chief Circuit Court Judge and Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois. In early 1985, he was appointed as one of three at-large circuit judges for the nine-county Fourth Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois and was elected to that office in 1986. In that capacity, he regularly presided in jury trials and contested bench trials throughout the Fourth Circuit Court and in the First Municipal District for Cook County.

    In December 1992, he returned to the general practice of law as a partner with Dove & Dove, Attorneys at Law. At Dove & Dove, Chris had the opportunity to practice law with the late Franklin Dove, the Honorable Michael P. Kiley, Douglas Dove, Walter B. Lookofsky, his daughter, Elizabeth Nohren and Dustin L. Probst. He was a member of the Shelby County Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

    Chris and his wife, Jacqueline (Dunaway) Eberspacher have three children: Elizabeth E. Nohren, a member of the firm of Dove & Dove, Attorneys at Law, and husband, Jeffrey Nohren, of Shelbyville; Catherine (Eberspacher) Gahl and husband, Christopher Gahl, of Indianapolis and Edward C. Eberspacher IV and wife, Kathryn Eberspacher, of Chicago. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Kanoa Christian Gahl, Kai Nicholas Gahl, William Jeffrey Nohren, Benjamin Edward Nohren and Olivia Rose Eberspacher; father and mother-in-law, Bill and Gladys Dunaway of Shelbyville; brother, David Eberspacher and wife, Mary Jo, of Mattoon; sister, Jo Ann Challer and husband, Marc, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and several nieces and nephews.

    An active community member, he was a member of the Board of Directors of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Shelbyville, Lincoln Trails Council, Boy Scouts of America, the Shelbyville Rotary Club and the Shelbyville Free Public Library. He was a member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church and served on the Board of Trustees for the church.

    He was a member of the Jackson Lodge 53 of Shelbyville, Consistory of Springfield and Ansar Shrine of Springfield.

    Chris was a world traveler, visiting five continents and more than 25 countries during this 62 years of life. He was also a proud Eagle Scout, skilled hunter, snow skier, scuba diver, bridge player, sailor and avid reader. Most importantly, he was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and community leader.

    He will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.