Nancy V. Bishop

Nancy Ventress Rider Bishop, MD, aged 88, died in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on December 25, 2008, after several years of disability following a stroke.

    Dr. Bishop was born on June 27, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of three daughters of Lloyd Almy Rider and Maude Magee Rider.  She graduated from Erasmus Hall High School, Cornell University (1941) and the University of Michigan Medical School (1944).  She interned at Cambridge Hospital (Massachusetts) and New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston.

    Her medical practice included service at Planned Parenthood of Ann Arbor and 10 years at the University of Michigan Health Service.  She taught English for a semester at the Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences in Changchun, China (1985).

    She married medical school classmate Ronald C. Bishop on April 22, 1945.  They lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1951 until 2005 when they moved to the Mennonite Home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Her focus for many years was their home and four children.  She was also active in the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, the Faculty Women’s Club, and International Neighbors.  She served as Secretary for the Ann Arbor Citizens’ Council for twenty-five years and was a member of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor for fifty years where she taught Sunday school.   She loved the outdoors and was an avid quilter in her later years.

    She leaves four children Christine Bishop (Paul Arkema) of Weston, Massachusetts, David Bishop (Patricia Gorman-Bishop) of Florence, Massachusetts, Ellen Bishop of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Andrew Bishop (Stephanie Bashirian) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; grandchildren David, Joanna, and Elizabeth Arkema, Rider Bishop, Erica and Suzanne Young, and Emma, Erica, and David Bishop; sister Patricia Rider Huber (Cromwell CT); sisters-in-law Mary Jean Lane and Jane Ellen Bishop of Ann Arbor, Michigan and brothers-in-law John Sherman (Geraldine) Bishop of Almont, Michigan and Claude Wilkes Trapp, Jr. of Lexington KY,; and nieces and nephews.  A sister, Joan Rider Trapp of Lexington KY and son-in-law Mark Young of Allentown PA predeceased her.

    A Memorial Service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor on April 4, 2009.  Memorial contributions may be made to The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (http://www.uusc.org/), or the Mennonite Home of Lancaster, Pennsylvania (http://www.mennonitehome.org).  Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home, Inc. 717-393-9661, is in charge of the arrangements. To send the family online condolences please visit www.snyderfuneralhome.com