Obituary of Frances Bishop

Frances Antoinette Sullivan Bishop of Eugene, Oregon died on December 21, 2019. She was 93. Frances, known as Franny, Francesca, Mom, Grandma Bishop and Grandma Franny, was born on Valentine’s Day, 1926, in Virginia, Minnesota to Isabelle Glubka and Daniel B. Sullivan. Her mother was a world traveler and a school teacher, and her father had been a senior field artillery NCO in World War One and went on to work at an auto factory in Flint, Michigan. Franny grew up in Flint, where she learned to play tennis and spent time with her beloved older brother Danny. She knew from a young age that she wanted to go to college, and in 1947 earned her nursing diploma from the University of Michigan. It was there, on the hospital floor at the University of Michigan, that Franny met her future husband, John W. Bishop, from Owosso, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. John and Franny’s courtship included picnics, bike rides and walks in Ann Arbor. The two married in 1947 in Buffalo, New York. After living in New York, Germany and California, the couple settled with their children in Eugene, Oregon. Franny was an athlete who played tennis avidly and loved to golf, a love she passed on to her children and grandchildren. She followed University of Oregon sports obsessively. She was also an incredible artist. Her intricate quilts won top prizes at the Lane County Fair. Franny loved to play bridge, to read and to travel. She always spoke her mind and was a great cook though, in her later years, she happily stopped cooking all the time. She loved peanut butter chocolate ice cream and knew how to find pleasure in things -- whether she was driving her grandkids to get that ice cream in her baby blue convertible or spending weeks with her good friend Mary Hodam in Hawaii every year, Franny lived economically but without sacrificing joy. She was unsentimental when it came to things but was always ready to welcome her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren into her home, take them swimming at the Eugene Country Club and make them creamed tuna on toast for breakfast. Franny was predeceased by her parents and her brother Daniel B. Sullivan M.D. of Augusta, Georgia. In 2004, she lost her husband of 56 years. She greatly missed her brother and husband after they died. “The only thing I regret,” she told a granddaughter and great granddaughter a year and a half before she died, “was that I didn’t get to spend more time with my brother.” Franny died with her daughters nearby, in Eugene, under palliative care following surgery. Before her death, she was able to say goodbye to her family and meet her two youngest great-granddaughters, ages two months and four months. She is survived by her children: John Bishop Jr. (Marilyn) of Bullard, Texas; Susan Lutz (Mark) of Anchorage, Alaska; Lynda Bishop (Steve Acker) of Portland, Oregon; James Bishop of Girdwood, Alaska; and Michael Bishop of Clam Gulch, Alaska. Franny is also survived by her grandchildren: Ahren Lutz, Erica Lutz Goleman, Ethan Lutz, Margaret Bishop Landes, John Bishop III, Elizabeth Acker, Michael Acker, Hans Bishop, Natalie Bishop Foster, Amy Bishop Jamros, Madeline Bishop and Danielle Bishop, as well as her great-grandchildren: Hazel Goleman, Lila Goleman, Vivian Goleman, Isaiah Goleman, Caroline Lueg, Garrett Lueg, Drake Bishop, Dedrian Bishop, Riley Lutz, Huxley Lutz, Sadie Lutz, Rosina Acker, Lucille Acker, Homer Foster, Willa Jamros and Nona Acker-Bullock. Memorial contributions may be made to the Daniel B. Sullivan Education Endowment at the University Health Care Foundation, 2100 Central Ave. Suite D-1, Augusta, GA 30904. There will be a celebration of her life at the Eugene Country Club on January 11, 2020 at 2 pm.