Jacqueline "Jackie" Bishop

1936 - 2021

Jacqueline "Jackie" Bishop, 85, of Montgomery City, Missouri, passed away peacefully Dec. 20, 2021, at St. Andrew's at New Florence, in New Florence, Missouri. Jackie was born on Apr. 24, 1936, in Slater, Missouri, to William "Jack" Murphy and Meda "Jo" McClain Murphy.
Jackie was sitting on the hood of her black Buick in 1953 when H. Calvin Bishop asked a friend, "Who is the gorgeous red head?" They spent that summer dancing in every dance hall in the area and wed June 19, 1954. Calvin would always commented that she was one in a million and could "fight the devil with a thimble full of water and WIN!"
Jackie loved music and always had it playing. She studied voice and piano starting at the age of 12, singing in many cantatas, musicals and church events.
Those in the Lower 48 who knew Jackie and how meticulous and impeccable she was in appearance and homemaking would be surprised to learn that she said her happiest times were spent living in Alaska. She followed Calvin as he helped build roads, airports, dams and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline across this young state; living and raising her young family in a small camp trailer as far north as the Arctic, to the west near the Bering Sea and Yukon River delta, to the east near the Canadian border, to Southcentral near Cook Inlet, to Southeast near the Pacific Ocean and many points in between. Their first year in Alaska, Jackie was cornered in the camp wash house by a black bear and moved a washing machine full of clothes and water to the door barricading herself safely inside. She was ready to head down the ALCAN Highway and move back to Missouri. However, after the adrenaline wore off, she stayed on and fell in love with Alaska. Some of her favorite places were Scotty Creek, Nelly Kelly's, Copper Center, Riverside, Tonsina, Northway, Slope Mountain, Summit Lake, Saint Mary's, Northway, Valdez, Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Paxson.
Jackie studied nursing in Mexico, Missouri, working off and on at Gamma Road Lodge, a long-term care facility in Wellsville, Missouri, until her retirement. She was a member of the Wellsville United Methodist-Presbyterian Church and was active in the choir and volunteering at church events.
It is hard for the family to find the words to describe the extraordinary person that was Jackie, not that she couldn't occasionally have a "red headed moment." She was proud of her family and passed on her love and talent for cooking to her children and grandchildren.
Jackie was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her husband Howell Calvin Bishop of Montgomery City, Missouri; son, Alaska Sen. Click Bishop and his wife, Darlene Taylor Bishop, of Fairbanks, Alaska; daughter, Sara Cohen and her husband, Norman Cohen, of Overland Park, Kansas; grandchildren Lori Bishop, Lisa Bishop (Rob), of Fairbanks, and Jessica Metcalfe (Keith) of Rake, West Sussex, UK; great grandchildren Taylor, Kadence and Evan Brinkman, and Basil Foxx, III, all of Fairbanks; brother, Bill Murphy (Sara) of Bradenton, Florida; many nieces, nephews and friends, especially lifelong friend, Shelley Reed, whom she met in elementary school and shared many adventures in Missouri and Alaska, or "escapes" as they may have called them.
The family will honor Jackie's request to have no services and that some of her ashes be taken back to Alaska and spread in her favorite places. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Bethel Cemetery Fund, 117 Bethel Church Road, Wellsville, Missouri, 63384.