Music • Photography • Writing
The
Bishops
Chicago
Years
Wolf
Place
Skyway
Park
Julie
West Oak
The
Bishops:
A
Pictorial Biography
It would be impossible to tell my story without telling the story of the Bishop family. A couple of happenstances led to this web presentation. For one thing, I have no children of my own so this biography represents the only family legacy I have to pass along to younger generations. For another, I stayed in Colorado Springs longer than my siblings so I inherited my grandparents' photo collection and became the repository for all the historical images in the family. I also create websites professionally and the internet seems like the best way to pass on the story and images to the rest of my family and anyone else interested. Since many of the images are historical and of varying quality, the small image size online seems most appropriate.
In some ways the Bishops are just an average family. In some ways, though, we are unique. My father, Bob Bishop, and I complete what is surely the shortest possible dynasty. As a professional musician, Bob adopted the last name Bishop as an easier name to fit on a marquee than his family name, Poltevecque. My parents did something unusual in naming their sons: I am the older son but my brother Robert, who passed away many years ago, was named Robert L. Bishop, Junior. Since neither he nor I ever had children, the Bishop line ends after just one generation. My sister Betty confused the situation by marrying a man, no relation, also named Bishop. My mother Marge attended college, raised five children, entered the full-time workforce in middle age, and became something of a feminist before the term became fashionable but never dropped her married name.
Last names, in fact, can be a bit confusing in my family. My father, for instance, had more last names in his life than did my mother. His father Louie was born with the family name of Poltevecque but for many years he used his step-father's last name, Padbury, reverting to his family name when his only son started school. So I've listed my relatives by first names on the menu at left.
The best way to tell the story from the beginning is to start with the Poltevecques, Louis and Louise, and their families. I've provided an informal genealogy to help clear up any confusion about the relationships between the various characters. I hope to extend this presentation into a pictorial autobiography as well but for now you'll find just a single page for my biography.
The image above, taken for a Christmas picture in 1962, shows the whole Bishop clan in the living room of their home in Skyway Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They are (l-r): Marge, Robert, Sr. ("Bob"), Julie, Laura, Robert, Jr. ("Rob"), Betty, and Tom. Rob was killed in a climbing accident in 1969. Betty and her husband Richard have a large, happy family in Grand Junction, Colorado. Laura now lives in a cabin in Vermont with her husband Reed. Julie and her husband Phil live in San Luis Obispo, California. Marge passed away in 1983 and Bob passed away in 1995.