Marjorie Allen Bishop

Margie Allen Bishop passed away peacefully at her home west of Bradley, late in the afternoon on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. She was born Marjorie Allen on November 30, 1920, in Washington, Indiana, the hometown of her parents, Jeanne Gardiner Allen and Josiah Graham Allen, Jr., a Lafayette County, Arkansas cotton farmer. The middle of five children, she had a happy, carefree childhood at Walnut Hill, where she learned to love and respect God's natural world and all his children. Marjorie majored in English at Ouachita Baptist College, Arkadelphia, where she sang alto in the Ouachita choir. While she was there, "Look Magazine" published Margie's picture in an issue featuring the country's most beautiful college girls. At Ouachita Margie met her tall, handsome "Yank" from Scotia, New York, R.A. "Dick" Bishop. In 1941, at the onset of World War II, Dick enlisted in the Signal Corps. Margie graduated in 1942 and taught English at Arkadelphia Junior High. The next year, she moved home to Walnut Hill to live with her parents until Dick's return, teaching English at Bradley. In September 1943, Margie rode the train to California to marry Dick before he was deployed to the China/Burma/India Campaign. They were married September 12, 1943, at Las Vegas, Nevada. In two weeks, Margie was back in Arkansas. She would not see her new husband again until his return to New York from the war in December 1945. On September 12, 1946, the first anniversary they spent together, their first child, Richard A. Bishop, Jr. was born in Schenectady, New York. A daughter, Jeanne, was also born while Margie and Dick lived in upstate New York. In 1951, when Margie was expecting their third child, they moved south to a Walnut Hill farm they had bought during the war. That son, John, and later Jim, Ann, Sally, and Margie were born south of their Arkansas farm at Shreveport, Louisiana. Margie and Dick were married 68 years at his death February 1, 2012. Adored by her family and revered by her community, Margie was the oldest living member of Bradley Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday School and Mission Friends for years. After most of her children were grown, she again taught English, at Bradley Junior High School. Though thoroughly a lady, Margie was no wimp. In her younger days, she raised, killed, and dressed her own chickens. Once, with company on the way and the bathroom floor flooding, she drilled a hole clear through the floor under a leaking water heater. In her fifties, she was still climbing apple trees to pick fruit for her delectable apple pies. Always an outdoor person, she knew much about the natural world, and taught her grandchildren about such things as the habits of doodlebugs. Her yard is a legacy of flowers, bushes, dogwoods and fruit trees she planted through the year. Margie made her home a welcoming place, especially to the many surprise guests Dick invited to dinner. Every meal was preceded by one of Margie's long and thorough prayers, marked by frequent hungry sighs from Dick, and accompanied by good conversation. Confined to a wheel chair in recent years, Margie kept busy. Each day found her writing cards and newsy letters to family members and friends, including one friend made at college 75 years before. She was a reader of uplifting books and the daily paper, which she scoured for articles to clip and save for others. Her recall of people and events was amazing. Margie's genuine Christian faith was never so apparent as during her final illness. Her lifelong kindness and deep concern for others never wavered. She was preceded in death by her husband and parents; brothers, Charles and Buddy Allen; sisters, Janet Arnold and Sally McCalman. She is survived by seven children, Dickie Bishop and wife, Judy of Mountain View, Ark., Jeanne Rothwell and husband, Cecil of Bauxite, Ark., John Bishop and wife, Patsy of Bradley, Ark., Jim Bishop and wife, Mary Ann of Madeville, La., Ann Rogers and husband, Faron of Clinton, Ark., Sally Jones and husband, Mike of Magnolia, Ark., and Margie Van and husband, Perry of Bradley, Ark.; brother-in-law, Baxter Arnold of Sterling, Colo.; 20 grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren; and many beloved nieces and nephews. Visitation will be held Friday, March 18, 2016 from 5-7 p.m. at Bradley Baptist Church. Funeral Services will be held there Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 11 a.m. with burial to follow at Walnut Hill Cemetery under the direction of Smith Funeral Homes of Stamps, Ark. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Bradley Baptist Church for the Annie Armstrong Easter Mission Fund. Online registration is available at www.aosmithfuneralhome.com.