Elsie Bishop

January 27, 1924 – August 3, 2020

Elsie Cecelia Bishop transitioned from her earthly life of 96 years to her eternal life with her Heavenly Father. Mobile Memorial Gardens Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the arrangements.

Elsie was a lifelong resident of Mobile County, the eighth of ten children born to the late Adeline Clark Davis and Gifford Hanson Davis.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Silas Bragg Bishop a World War II Veteran, her son Floyd Wayne Bishop, and her great-granddaughter Ashley Barnes. She was the last in her generation, outliving all her beloved sisters, Ninever, Audrey, Rosenna, Bernadette, Senora, and her loving brothers, Manny, Gifford, Leslie, and Sylvester.

She was cherished by those who survived her: children, Leonard Bishop (Helen), Elaine Bishop, Carolyn Stone (Doug), Freda Langham (Edward), and Timothy Bishop; eight grandchildren, Benjamin Bishop, Amy Bishop, Michael Hippensteel, Michelle Bosarge, Melissa Howell, Christopher Langham, Quinton Langham, Amanda Langham; twenty-three great-grandchildren; fourteen great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews who loved her as her own children did.

Elsie led her family with integrity, empathy, compassion, and incredible hard work. She served in a number of capacities for the Mobile Association for Retarded Citizens (MARC). She was a devoted mother and until her death continued to care for Timothy, her 60-year-old profoundly autistic child, requesting of us with her last words to care for him with the same love she did.

Elsie Bishop lived a Christian life in her interactions with others, always finding the good in people. Even when someone messed up, she would find kind words for them. The only time you may have gotten her wrath is if you did not do something exactly right for Timothy, her youngest child, and her vulnerable child. We all understood that powerful need she had to protect him as he can do nothing to protect himself. Elsie attended church services up until her 95 birthday and was honored by the minister on her birthday.

Elsie lived what many people characterized as a burdensome life, but she never saw it this way. Relatives and others advised Elsie to put Timothy in a home for retarded children. She would have none of it. The health professionals marvel at how healthy he is, one commenting “I have never seen a person in his condition live this long.” Our comment back to this doctor was “Well you don’t know Elsie Bishop.” Her son-in-law Doug likes to tell the story of how when she was readying Tim for a doctor’s visit when he saw her ironing his socks. Timothy has been under her loving, watchful eye since the day he was born and now 60 years later her family will take up the mantel. Her wishes will be respected, and Timothy will live at home for the rest of his life as she wanted. Michelle Bosarge, her granddaughter, will not attend her funeral. It was her grandmother’s wish that Michelle stay behind and attend to Timothy instead.

Elsie was orphaned at 9 and lived in the Catholic Children’s Home on Government Street in Mobile until her newly married sister Ninever and her husband Harry brought her to live with them. Elsie was good, kind, humble, and appreciative of what her sister and brother-in-law did for her.

She valued education and she received her high school diploma. She had what cannot be tested by standardized tests or acquired through degrees, an innate sense of the right thing to do in each moment to make everyone feel heard and valued. She never needed to be the center of attention, and never resented others who did, but she would step up when a void occurred and fill the room with stories and laughter.

She was a master southern cook and would put up bushels and pecks of fruit and vegetables from the farmers market. Her children hated this at the time with their fingers turned green from shelling peas, but we look back with fondness. We scoured the roadside for blackberries every year and she put up pint after pint of homemade jelly and her canned figs were fought over. She provided her family with a home cook meal each and every meal and her biscuits and cornbread dressing were unbeatable. She had a huge garden, chickens, and a milk cow. Once when sitting on a milk can a hunter’s stray bullet passed right through the can, she milked on.

She loved to travel and visited Hawaii twice and almost every state up and down the eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine. She dreamed of being at the Rose parade as she so loved flowers and she made it. She loved to visit Branson Missouri for country music with her relatives in the recreation vehicle and the stories they would generate were full of love, laughter, and mishaps. She was not to be left behind. Once at a water park with a three-story water slide, we just expected she would be safely secured on the picnic benches but she having none of that. Down she went with the rest of us and she was already a great grandmother. We rented bicycles on Cumberland Island and had to dig through the soft sand to make progress. We just expected she would remain in the big swings on Greyfield Inn. She was having none of that; digging through the sand with the rest of us. There were some mishaps in these travels. Pre GPS days she and Elaine ended up in Georgia going from Jacksonville to Orlando. When they stopped to inquire at a filling station why there was a “Welcome to Georgia” sign in Florida, well you know the rest of the story. You could not get on a subway with Elsie, her sisters, and nieces. They never stopped talking long enough to pay attention. Half of them would be on the subway train and the other half on the platform advising each other about whether they had the right shoes on when the doors would close. now you had their attention as the train pulled away and you were looking at four shocked faces on the platform.

She loved her family and she loved traveling with them. She liked the dumplings at Cracker Barrel, and we would always try to get her near the fireplace as she lived cold regardless of how many layers she has on. She liked listening to the Goodmans sing gospel and did all night sing-alongs at the Mobile Auditorium with them. She loved gumbo and was an aficionado of it.

She raised her children in town but dreamed of owning land out. Almost five decades ago she searched and found 200 acres in Wilmer, Alabama and while Silas was at sea and with his blessing, she bought the land. She and Leonard planted about 50 pecan trees. She loved her beautiful land and she has shared it with 32 family members.

Her happiest hours were playing with grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. She had eight grandchildren (Benjamin Bishop, Amy Bishop, Michael Hippensteel, Michelle Bosarge, Melissa Howell, Christopher Langham, Quinton Langham, Amanda Langham), twenty-three great-grandchildren and fourteen great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews who loved her dearly.

She liked to be surrounded by beauty. She raised birds, violets, and was a serious bowler until her 80s. She worked in a number of capacities at MARC and drove the bus for the children wh. She brought class after class to the farm so they could see animals and go swimming in the creek. Creek swimming was also a highlight for her children who were landlocked in the city growing up. Every week she would go to the country for five gallons of raw milk and stop and let us swim in the creek. This was pure, unadulterated joy for us.

Elsie Bishop was the embodiment of goodness. She led a life of integrity, wisdom, kindness, and love. Hers was a life well-lived.

The family would like to thank Kindred Hospice for their care.

Her loving family will gather to celebrate her life on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. for burial at Mobile Memorial Gardens Cemetery.