Ellouise Bishop

Ellouise (Ruhl) Bishop, passed away on January 9, 2015. She would have been 91 on February 15, 2015. She was born in Wichita and moved to Salina prior to starting elementary school at Sacred Heart. She grew up during the depression. 10 cents was a lot of money. Family was very important and money was scarce, but it didn’t seem to matter to her. All the kids came to her house to be with her sister, Rosie and brother, Bud. They did a lot of listening to the radio and dancing. Her parents “A” and “Bush” were the best dancers. They would move the living room furniture to the side so that everyone could dance. And she got the nickname of “BZ”. It was expanded from "Weesy”, which is what Bud called her instead of Ellouise.

She always claimed that she wasn’t smart (like her sister and brother), but she was good with having a lot of friends throughout her life. She graduated from Sacred Heart Catholic high school, giving a lot of credit to nuns helping her through. A difficult time was sending her younger brother off to WW2. Bud came home and married Ruth – and her family expanded to her 4 nieces – who could do no wrong - Lois, Mary, Sarah, and Martha.

She worked at Emery Bird Thayer on the Plaza during her time right after high school. Her aunt “Chum” encouraged her to move to Bakersfield, CA. She lived there for a couple of years. She met movie stars and did some modeling. But her family was more important and she moved back to Salina. She cared for her parents as they grew old. She worked retail in the boys department at Hines Roth and eventually at Shelton’s dress shop in downtown Salina. She enjoyed buying trips to Dallas, Chicago and New York. She told stories of selecting expensive outfits for the women of central Kansas. They’d come into the store and buy them, just as she knew they would. There was only one size for each outfit, because no woman wanted to see another wearing the same outfit!

She married Bill Bishop at age 45 and they did a lot of traveling around the country by car – finding inexpensive fun. The zoo was always at the top of their list. They also were great neighbors in Salina.The dogs would visit and eventually Bill and BZ would become the owners: Sully, Brutus and Toby. Bill and BZ were married 30 years, with Bill’s death occurring in 1998.

Without Bill and with retirement, BZ was involved in church, the YMCA and volunteering at the downtown Salina “Parents Day Out” program. She loved the kids. All children were wonderful to her, even if they were misbehaving. There she met Rachel, who eventually encouraged her to move from Salina and to the Olathe Towers which she did for 10 years.This allowed her to be near family, as maintaining good health was becoming a challenge to her. She moved to The Atriums in July of 2013 (1 and half years ago). Her nieces and their families were so fortunate to have her close by during her final years of life. She was a funny and determined lady who did all that she could “by herself” until the end. What a great role model!

The family extends a big Thank You to the staff at The Atriums. It was amazing how she was able to end her life on earth with such loving people.