Music • Photography • Writing
Later Years
The divorce from Bob was something Marge had considered for a long time and she found it liberating to be on her own, earning a good living, socializing again. Her job at SDC grew to being head of personel, which meant more money but more work and responsibility. She moved to Lompoc, California, in the central part of the state, not too far from her job, which was housed on Vandenburg Air Force Base. She used to bring her lunch with her. One warm spring day she drove out into the open fields that surround the base and parked and ate lunch. The sun being warm, she dozed off. She woke up with a cow licking her face. She's seen here in the rocker that Tom tipped over when he was a baby, though the rocker has been refinished in a style popular at the time called "antiqued." Note her elegant clothes and the gray in her hair. At the end of her life, she couldn't remember her original hair color.
In California, Marge enjoyed a social life again, unfettered by a spouse and a pack of squabbling kids. She's seen here at a restaurant with a friend.
Marge struggled at times with health issues, like when she was pregnant with Julie and had dermatitis. In her fifties she underwent surgeries to correct some difficult mid-life problems. She had osteoporosis, which caused her jaw to deteriorate so much that a section of bone was taken from her hip and grafted into her jaw.
While still working at SDC in Colorado Springs, Marge met a fellow employee named Jack Mitchell (the last name is uncertain). Jack turned out to be Tom's first customer in his lawn and garden business, because Jack had planted a large garden at his house but then had been transferred and had to sell the house. (No one wants to buy a house with a dead garden. Tom kept all the produce.) Once Marge was single and living in California, they began to date and they soon became close.
Jack still worked for SDC but was stationed at company facilities in Europe much of the time. He was well-off and cosmopolitan and he was very fond of Marge. They enjoyed a sophisticated lifestyle she'd always yearned to have but which Bob could never provide in Colorado Springs. Back overseas, Jack invited Marge to join him, which turned into one of the most fulfilling times of her life.
Marge is pictured here in Merano, Italy, but she also visited France and Germany as well. She did more than visit: she went back again a short time later and stayed for many weeks. She talked very fondly of her time there and began to think about what life would be like if she decided to move abroad.
Marge is seen here in front of a house with a traditional grass roof. The location is unknown. It's easy to see from these images that Marge was enjoying herself very much.
Marge was gliding toward retirement at this point. Other health issues appeared, including diabetes, but it seemed manageable and didn't seem to slow her down much.
This shot was probably taken the same day, judging by Marge's blouse. The location is unknown but the rather somber setting seems to be a nice home in Europe, judging by the cobblestone drive. This is the last shot of her we could find.
After the surgery on her jaw, Marge couldn't chew food for a year, meaning everything she ate had to be put through a blender and sipped through a straw. (Picture yourself eating a steak that way.) So her diet suffered. She may have had high blood pressure.
Regardless, she planned another trip to Europe with Jack, packed for the trip, bought her Christmas presents ahead of time, and let her relatives and friends know that she planned to leave in the morning. That night in early November, 1983, she went to bed and never woke up. Since everyone thought she was leaving anyway, no one thought to check on her. Finally the neighbors discovered her and let us know.
The whole Bishop family, including Bob, who took this picture, gathered at Marge's house in Ventura to remember her. She lived a good life and raised her children the best she knew how. She worked very hard to support Bob at home while he worked at least two jobs to earn enough to pay the rent. She always counseled us to work hard and save for retirement, but then she passed away before she had a chance to enjoy the fruits of all her labors. That left her children a substantial inheritance, which meant a lot, but not one of us would take the money if we could have our mom back.
At some point, Marge gave Bob a small plaque that read, "I love you just for being you." He stuck a copy of the image at left into the frame of the plaque and kept it on his piano for the rest of his life. It fell to Tom to break the news of her passing to him and it was clear that she had always been the love of his life. But neither love nor life is predictable.
Marge Bishop wouldn't have labeled herself a feminist, since the word hadn't been invented yet. But she shared the same sort of struggles that women have had to contend with since her time: surviving the dating scene, falling in love, raising a family, working outside the home, setting her own career course, being open to love again at the very end of her life. She always dealt with her challenges with (strained) patience, (sometimes acerbic) wit, and (insecure) faith. She left us all a legacy of cooking and family get-togethers and trying new things. She didn't live into old age. She probably wouldn't have enjoyed living into old age and so might have preferred the way things turned out. But her time with us was too short.