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By Missy Dunlap, on April 4th, 2023 Mother passed tonight. I was notified this morning that she was in the hospital. I am so grateful that my brother, Joseph, and daughter, Sara, could be with her. If I had wings I could not have made it in time.
Esther Sarah (Hill) Bishop, age 98
November 15, 1924 – April 3, 2023
Esther was the ninth child of eleven children (seven girls and four boys) of Allen Emmer Hill and Esther Cecelia Juhl, born in Grand Island, Nebraska. Her earliest memories are of their home above the tailor shop where both her parents earned a living. She particularly remembers an airplane parked at the bottom of the stairs that she says may have been her father’s sister’s, a female pilot!
Her fondest memories are of the barn dances where she often had two dance partners tossing her back and forth between them.
Esther was an indomitable independent ambitious spirit with good business sense. She ran a Greyhound franchise in Sunnyside, Washington that moved freight and people. Next, she purchased the Greyhound franchise in Richland, Wa. This was before UPS & FedEx and she combined that with a taxi service.
She also purchased an “A house” which was a two story, 3 bed, 1 bath, full basement duplex across the street from the bus station. Esther turned one side into an apartment downstairs and rented out the upstairs bedrooms to single men, making the house pay for itself. She could literally walk to work and check on her children when necessary.
Esther was active in the chamber of commerce and claims that John F Kennedy personally asked her to be a liaison between Hanford Atomic Works and the City of Richland. We did attend the dedication of the newest reactor at Hanford where JFK spoke in 1963.
As a divorced mother still raising two boys, Esther, relocated her family from Richland, Washington to Kent, Washington (greater Seattle area). There she purchased a piece of property and moved a mobile home onto it. At that time mobile homes were not allowed anywhere but in mobile home parks. Mother won that battle clearing the way for others.
The affects of spinal surgeries, for a car accident combined with years of lifting heavy packages, left her disabled and she found she could not support her family on her Social Security and SSI checks alone. Men and women were not paid social security at the same rate in those days, even though they had worked as much, and Esther took on the fight to correct that inequity.
Esther was also very active in the Women’s League of Voters and the Democratic Party. She was instrumental in campaigns for Senators Adam Smith and Patty Murray and has photos with Adam Smith and Governor Christine Gregoire.
Retirement might slow down most people, but when Esther moved into senior housing she found the conditions to be well below acceptable standards. She organized the seniors, and, with her ambition, contacts, and successes, they got much needed parking, and long overdue improvements, done to the properties she lived in, and worked with, in King County.
Esther leaves behind four children: Larry Leighton (Hawaii), Melissa Dunlap (Montana), Joseph Bishop (Washington) and Bruce Bishop (Idaho). She has seven grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren. She has one remaining younger sister, Betty O’Nele (Nebraska).
Our thanks to Esther’s guardian, Sarah Mills, and Judson Park, Des Moines, Washington caregivers who have lovingly cared for our mother for a number of years.
 Enjoyed twice weekly Zoom calls right up to the end.  1973 mother in MY DRESS. She was 49. Her favorite photo blown up and pride of place on her wall.  Last August, Sara and I with mother at Judson Park.  Mother and Senator Adam Smith  Mother and WA governor Gregoire
By Missy Dunlap, on March 19th, 2023
By Missy Dunlap, on October 9th, 2022 
Our house is solid wood floors and walls in the original house. Wood molding not a great choice for the sink area which is old and moldy. Purchased new molded laminate from Lowes and then needed someone to install a new sink, too.
Good friends, who already have too much on their plates, literally, because they run a busy restaurant, accepted the job. Daniel and his youngest son, Joseph, came to our rescue, as the person who talked me into the upgrade had not come through with installation.
I still plan to cover the old laminate with matching white marble contact paper so these are not photos of the completed job, but you get to see the new one hole sink and old standard faucet I chose. I was tired of not having a sink big enough to clean large pans and I really disliked that the one-handled faucets wear out too quickly. And I always want HOT OR COLD water, almost never warm, so am happy to have the old style faucet.
 
 
By Missy Dunlap, on September 8th, 2022
Had a ball with my siblings in Monument Colorado, home of my sister Janice and her husband, Warren Santino! It started off when Ted and I arrived at the BMW dealership in Lakewood at 2 pm to pick up the bike he’d purchased. It was 6 pm before we were able to get on the road, Ted following me pulling the car hauler with the Z Wagon (suburban) in rush hour Denver traffic, with only my cell phone mapping to get us to Monument, an hour away. We made it!
Next morning Ted was off on his adventure to Pike’s Peak. He returned successfully, thank heavens! He would have turned around half way but it wasn’t possible. You can read his story here.
 
When Ted got back he wasn’t able to make the turn in the yard and, lucky for him, help was on the way and the bike was loaded on the trailer for the trip home.
 In red, on the left, is Ed and Joanne’s son, Eric. We enjoyed meeting him.
We enjoyed breakfasts and dinners together, walks, talks, hugs, dancing, laughing, a little Skyjo, and so much more. Our chefs were Warren and Joanne. Kami and Bill brought cucumbers, yellow crooknecks and zucchini from their garden and tomatoes from her brother’s that were roasted and seasoned to perfection to accompany lasagna one night and Warren’s succotash another. YUM!!!
 
One morning, Janice came downstairs playing WE ARE FAMILY on her cell phone and we all sang and danced to the lyrics. Great FUN!
  
Another activity was looking at photos Janice had gathered for us to look at while Laurel was there in case she could help identify some of the people in the really old ones. Diane has a new fast scanner and took most of them home so that she can distribute digitized versions for all of us.
 Loraine playing and Kenneth (dad) singing on a rare visit.  Dad far right on bicycle.  Loraine and all the kids! Barbie (next to Loraine) and I had the same haircut. Ted and I stayed an extra day and Janice’s sons, Wesley and Wyatt (and Wyatt’s girlfriend, Carissa) were able to visit so we could meet them.
I took selfies with EVERYONE!
 Ted & Missy  Laurel, our cousin, and Scott Farrell  Kami & Bill  Ted & Ed  Janice  Bill  Monte  Kami  Leon  Wesley  Wyatt  Diane & Monte  Carissa is a Cosplay costume and makeup artist, among other talents. Very sparkly personality.  Barbie & me  Warren  Joanne  Ed  Dianne
By Missy Dunlap, on August 24th, 2022 
Video of these carts in motion.
So much fun with family! Visited mother, Esther Bishop, every day. She wanted PIE so I brought her chocolate cream one day, then bought apple and pumpkin to eat on Sunday with the Thanksgiving dinner Cory Mason was making but she wanted to “go” before we ate and I forgot to take her any. Last day I brought her cheesecake, a large bag of assorted candy bars, and a beautiful orchid. I brought labels and labeled everything.
   
First day I gave her the “Baby Bruce (Bishop)” doll. First two days I cleaned out her 12 drawers and filled a large box and her trash bin with trash. Then I began organizing all the cards and letters I’ve sent her the past several years and put them in the biggest binder they make. They filled it! And I added photos to her bulletin board and made note of some that need to be added.
We even got Larry Leighton on a video call the day Joseph Bishop was there with me. Larry is making knife handles from Hawaiian Koa wood. Now I need the names of his children so that I can track down some photos for mother of her grandchildren, hopefully on Facebook.
Mother gave me her turquoise ring and I took a photo of it on my finger between our faces so when she wonders where it got to I can show her.
My room at the inn (my daughter, Sara Mason’s home in Des Moines) is lovely. It’s actually Kenzie’s room. She was away at school and will be home soon but I will miss connecting with her. I took photos of Joseph and I having lunch where Kenz hostessed all summer, Anthony’s restaurant. The food and service was fabulous and I told everyone that I was Kenz’s grandmother.
 
Lots of great conversations with my daughter, Sara, and added pounds with Chef Cory’s excellent cooking.
Kastle, age 9, was so good with mother when he visited her and she visited him. His hugs are priceless. He’s also an excellent artist, able to copy anything he wants to. We had time together at his treehouse rope swing, too. One of his fears is spiders, and I told him how I had the same fear at his age, and my church had a kids group that earned badges in things and I did one for spiders. I had to learn a bunch about spiders and catch some, too. That was when I got over my fear of them. Knowledge replaces fear, I explained.
   
I also attended my 50th Cleveland High School reunion, two years delayed due to Covid. My best friend didn’t make it from Sacramento but I enjoyed telling my choir and ensemble teacher how much I loved his teaching and how much it meant to me.
Mr. Asher and his wife attended, along with three other teachers.
By Missy Dunlap, on February 20th, 2022
A story by Ted Dunlap; illustrated by his youngest daughter, Deedra.
Hover your cursor over the second title to activate the link to the pdf file.
TED: When I was a Daddy, I would tell bed-time stories to my daughters … made up on the spur of the moment, out of my head, just as my daddy did before me.
Fast forward a bunch of years to a mid-twenties daughter who needed artistic expression and purpose in her life.
So I wrote a story about my brother and asked her to illustrate it. This is our collaboration.
I am happy enough with the result that I fancy it could be a published book … if anyone could share with me how to take the next steps, I would appreciate that boost.
It already served its designed purpose.
Anything past that is gravy.
By Missy Dunlap, on January 29th, 2022
SKIRTS FROM SHIRTS
I’m just not comfortable in leggings unless worn with a dress. I saw that this look is in and “shirt extenders” are sold for this purpose. So, I bought two new slips with lovely heavy lace (one to keep as a slip) and two thrift store shirts to copy the look.
Goal:
I started with these:
And I made these looks by shortening one slip and cutting the shirts across at the armholes and made elastic waistbands to wear them under a shirt and over the leggings:
By Missy Dunlap, on December 11th, 2021
By Missy Dunlap, on October 17th, 2021 Ted’s son, Richard, & kids came for a visit!
 Richard, Ted, Isaac, Kelsee, Marilyn, Mochi, Anthony & Scooter They arrived in the afternoon and got a tour of our place and Rich noted that we had extra beds and inquired if some of the kids could sleep here. We enthusiastically accepted and the kids began stating their preferences.
Ted took them to dinner at Little Blue Joint. Marilyn and I had taquitos and salad for our dinner and I got beds ready while they were gone.
 Isaac on trombone Next morning, Ted and Isaac spent time on their trombones together while I made pancakes, bacon, and sausage and Kelsee made eggs, practicing her culinary art class techniques. I had Rich try the new morning hot drink I have and several of them like herbal teas and I had lots of choices for them.
Any time someone needed the wifi password, I assigned Anthony to read it to them. That chore came up several times and he was filling a need that he could do well.
I learned that Mochi (formerly Brinlee) is pesco-vegetarian (eats only fish) and wanted to make tortillas. So, I decided on pulled pork and a salmon steak for Mochi, corn, cole slaw and salad ingredients to add to the pulled pork tacos for our dinner. We decided what we needed from the store and I ran that errand.
Mochi went with the guys to the shooting range and they all had a ball firing a variety of firearms and sending rounds into targets. Anthony, the youngest, shot fast on the 22 rifle, his first time shooting, and when they moved him from paper targets to metal they could hear the 4 out of 5 tings of his rounds hitting, proving that he was on target. Ted was using some less than great ammo and Anthony, his brother and dad, all got great practice dealing with jams. Anthony quickly began handling them himself.
Isaac and Mochi also shot well and enjoyed the activity. Richard had his own 9 mm he wanted to practice with and shot amazingly well with that tool, particularly when you consider the targets were 35 yards away, compared to only 7 yards, a distance more commonly used for hand gun practice. Isaac took some video with his phone and I’m hoping to add a screen shot if I can get one from him or Rich.
They were three hours or more shooting and when they came in Isaac was ready for a snack. I had cream cheese and smoked salmon on wheat thins and that went over well.
 Pastry Chef Kelsee Chef Kelsee set her task making high end ice cream for our dessert. I fetched whatever she needed, mixing bowls, mixer, etc. Kelsee had her own recipes but I didn’t know how to load or run the ice cream machines and had a time finding a YouTube video that actually went that far, explaining how to layer the ice and rock salt.
Mochi had already learned how to form tortilla dough into tortillas, so, from my recliner, all I had to do was coached her on the ingredients. She had no trouble shaping the dough with the food processor, shaping the tortillas, and frying them up on her own. She even made a second batch with white flour only, because she said Anthony would prefer them to the first batch that was half whole wheat.
 Mochi, tortilla maker By the time I found the information on how the ice cream maker was supposed to be operated, the first batch had already been started with all ice and only a little rock salt on top. Ted had fetched us more ice because the two bags I had purchased wasn’t going to be enough and the second batch went much better and faster layering the ice and rock salt (from the water softener). We scooped the finished ice cream into big bowls and put them in the freezer before dinner so they could freeze nice and solid.
Dinner was good and dessert was wonderful! I need to get the name of the special ingredient Kelsee made that was swirled into one batch of the ice cream and add it here. We had planned to cook a salmon steak f or Mochi but she pulled the pork for us and ate it instead.
Isaac asked Ted about his music likes and Ted loaded an SD card with 2,000 of his favorites to take home. In the evening Ted showed Mochi his album collection and she selected Electric Light Orchestra which, when played, sparked Isaac and Kelsee into dance. Ted got it on video and I took a screen shot from it to post here.
There were many individual conversations and time spent with Marilyn. The first day and evening Marilyn was low functioning but she perked up for the remainder of their visit and received hugs and returned with smiles and even some responses.
Anthony really took to both dogs (they have two chihuahua mixes at home) and at one point he noticed that both dogs were AWOL. I had let them out after dinner and called for them but no dogs came. Isaac went out and reported that the gate they had brought targets back from the range through was open.
I had Ted fix my radio frequency, left the front gate open, and and drove all three directions but saw no dogs. Before I went to bed I asked Isaac to let them in if he heard them. I was in bed, but not asleep yet, when Isaac knocked on my door and let the dogs into my bedroom. Thank goodness, after a couple of hours, they returned on their own and Ted closed both gates before he came to bed.
Today, Ted fixed the gate that hadn’t closed last night allowing the dogs to escape. It has always been problematic, very difficult to close, and today, thankfully, he took the time for that repair. It wasn’t the first time they have escaped the yard and we’ve had to drive around looking for them.
 Kelsee made the last of the eggs we had on hand into rounds to put on english muffins with cheddar cheese and ham slices. We set out every possible thing someone could dress their muffins with and Richard brought chocolate milk. Everyone had whatever they wanted for a beverage and breakfast was relatively easy and yummy.
Kelsee said her mother, Tiffanie, has bronchitis and Maya (the youngest) stayed home with her. Savanna (second oldest) is returning from a trip with friends and that is why they couldn’t stay another day, had to get home to pick her up.
We thanked Richard over and over for bringing his family for a visit. After group photos and many hugs, they hit the road for home. We sure hope they come again soon with the whole family!
By Missy Dunlap, on September 5th, 2021
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