Despite challenges, Kay Bishop keeps faith, enjoys life
Kay Bishop was born in Texas, but at age two her father was transferred back to Minneapolis working in the flour mill industry. She attended Roosevelt High school in her class of 650 students which was the largest graduating class in Minnesota at that time. She is proud that her school won the Minnesota State Basketball tournament two years in a row (when it was still a single class), and also the state football championship one of those same years.
She really enjoyed ice skating and would skate with her friends on the field that would be flooded in the wintertime. She has always enjoyed music, and was a member of the school choir that was selected to perform at the National Music Teachers Convention in Cleveland, Oho. She was also part of a group of National Honor Society students that went to Washington DC.
Kay attended the University of Minnesota for two years, and then worked as a secretary at the Minneapolis Tribune.
Chuck Bishop grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin attending a one room country school, and graduated from Barron High School where he was a running back on the football team and captain. He then enlisted in the Navy and was selected as the honor person during his basic training graduation. He served as a navigator with a three-team crew on AD5N Skyraider airplanes with 100 takeoffs and landings from the aircraft carriers USS Bennington and USS Forrestal. Chuck then attended college at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls and majored in agriculture.
Chuck and Kay met in Minneapolis on a blind date on New Year’s Eve that was set up by a Navy friend when Chuck was in the Naval Reserve in the Twin Cities. They first went to a church service and then went bowling. Kay beat his bowling score that night, and she later thought “why did I do that or I may never see him again!” Years later Chuck would go bowling up to three times each week during league bowling so he really improved his scores.
Chuck and Kay had their wedding planned for June 1962 but it had to be rescheduled as Chuck’s Naval Reserve unit was called back to active duty during the Cuban missile crisis. Kay read in the paper that his unit was getting sent to Cuba so plans changed quickly.
He was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the plane would fly over Russian ships at sea taking photographs of those that might be carrying missiles. His plane’s photo even appeared in a Russian newspaper during their very low altitude fly overs. When his unit’s assignment was finished, he got out of the service and the wedding was rescheduled for August 1962. Chuck always had a lot of fond memories of his time in the Navy.
Chuck then returned to the University of Wisconsin River Falls, and he graduated the next year. For the next five years Chuck worked for International Harvester as a company field representative calling on dealerships in southern Minnesota. The Bishops made several moves during that period of time.
While they were living in Chatfield, he would call on the IH dealer in Kasson, and Charlie Wachholz was working there in the parts department. The Brewer family had been an IH dealer for 100 years and they were interested in selling the business.
Chuck and Charlie discussed the possibility of buying the business, and they did that in 1968 starting the Bishop and Wachholz dealership. It really turned out to be a good business move for them as Charlie took over the parts and service, while Chuck made a lot of farm calls and sales.
They first started out in the building now being used by the Dodge County Food Shelf, and then bought the present site along Highway 14 when the Kasson Ford dealership moved to Rochester. They both felt that God really put this partnership together for the next 30 years. The partners got along very well with many great employees, and they made a lot of friends with their customers. They also felt that when they sold the dealership in 1998 it was very good timing.
The Bishops raised two sons who are Kasson-Mantorville alumni, with Peter involved with the music program and Mark being a football captain like his dad. Both boys attended Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, about 30 miles from Dayton.
Peter had already graduated, and Mark was in his last semester of school. One day during a heavy rainstorm he joined several students running and sliding on the grass covered with water. He slid into a culvert hidden by water, hitting his head, and he was instantly paralyzed from the chest down with a C5 spinal cord injury.
He thought he would drown, but when his friends realized the situation, they got him out of the water and he was flown by helicopter to the hospital in Dayton. Kay said they received the dreaded phone call during the middle of the night, and they quickly got a few things together for the 600-mile trip. It was very foggy so for a distance they could only drive about 30 mph, and since this was in the days before cell phones they had no idea if he was alive. They were able to fly Mark back to Rochester, and he was in Saint Marys Hospital for the next six months in rehab. They made several changes to their home to accommodate Mark’s condition.
Mark was able to attend his college graduation accompanied by his parents and Chris, a high school friend. On the return plane flight home there were bad storms and tornadoes, and the pilot was warned to land in Beloit, Wis., very soon or they could likely crash from the high winds. Kay did not want to get back on that plane to continue on to Rochester after the weather improved, but the airport in Rochester confirmed that the weather conditions were OK so they resumed their homeward flight. Once again, the weather turned bad, and it was another rough flight.
Even though Kay was singing hymns to herself, the plane cabin was very quiet. When they attempted to land in Rochester, the 75 mph winds were so strong the small plane was coming in almost vertical, so the pilot made a circle for another attempt at a different runway. They ran into the same problem, but eventually they were able to land the plane OK and brought Mark back to the hospital.
When Mark was able to come home to their house, they had an aide worker come each morning, but the rest of the time they took care of him themselves. Mark could move his arms, but not raise them above his shoulders and not hold anything in his fingers. Using devices strapped to his hand holding a dowel with a pencil eraser, he could type on his computer to write letters to send to churches and others. Mark continued to encourage others when he would be at the medical facility, and even though he was worse off than they were, they were the ones that received encouragement for their condition. The Bishops bought a conversion van so they were able to take some short trips to the Mall of America, but it was hard to stay places with his motorized wheelchair. He eventually could attend church services when an elevator was installed at the church. Mark could tolerate being paralyzed, but during the last two or three years he suffered from increased pain which really became unbearable. Mark passed away in 1998, eight years after his accident.
Chuck and Kay were able to take trips to Jamaica, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and they drove to many states. They also traveled to Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, a D-Day themed tour of London and the Normandy Beaches and to Paris with their son Peter. Their best trip was going to Israel in 2017 with Peter and Pastor John and Mythyl Todor (their pastor at First Baptist in Kasson). It was a great experience being in the area that Jesus walked, and made the Bible stories even more real to them. Chuck was having more health issues, but he was able to keep up on the trip to see the sites.
Chuck and Kay were very involved with the First Baptist Church in Kasson as Chuck was the treasurer, sang in the choir, did drama, was an AWANA youth leader and did whatever jobs needed to be done.
Kay has been involved with the music program, being the choir director and part of the worship band and involved with AWANA groups. She finally retired from leading the music program this past year after 40 years but she continues to do a lot with the Vacation Bible School program for the past 24 years, and the Wednesday ARK (Always Reaching Kids) program. She has been given the name “Mama Kay” by the pastor and others for all the roles she has taken part in.
Chuck and Kay were football fans, and liked to attend Gopher and Viking games at times. Chuck was a Viking fan except when they played the Packers. Kay would cheer loudly watching the games, but Chuck was pretty quiet. After Chuck retired he also really loved to golf. Chuck continued to have more health issues with his heart, diabetes, kidney, and stage 4 prostate cancer. In 2019 when Chuck was going to the mailbox, he fell on the ice in the driveway, and suffered many broken bones as the cancer had spread throughout his body. Chuck was in hospice care for a couple of weeks, and he passed away in February 2019. They had been married for 56 years.
Kay worked part time at the Kasson Library and was on the library board for several years until Mark’s injury. She also helped move books when the library moved out of city hall to the former post office, and then to the Mini Mall. She helped arrange books when they moved into the present library.
Kay is a very avid reader and will read a couple of books each week on a variety of topics but she enjoys historical subjects especially WWII stories. She also likes to work with flowers in her yard. Her son Peter lives in the Cincinnati, area and works with an insurance company.
Kay said she really likes the people that live in our community and the kindness they have shown to her family when they were facing adversity and health issues. She loves the Kasson library and she attends plays at the fantastic K-M School Performing Arts Center. Their former neighbors, Wendy and Jason, have been great friends, and they treat her as a parent and she feels their two children are like her grandchildren. Kay has demonstrated her great faith through the years, and she puts her trust in God to lead her life since God is really in charge no matter what goes on in this world!
Photo: Photo by Wayne Hendrickson Longtime local resident Kay Bishop enjoys her retirement.