My dear friend, Ruth Bishop, passed away this last week. Ruth was an avid genealogist, spending most of her waking hours studying her family history. She attended many of the Salt Lake Christmas Tour programs over the years. She was a great supporter of the hobby, putting her money into the hobby to help others. She was a big financial supporter of the New England Genealogical and Historical Society – donating so much that they named the reading room in their Boston library after her.
I met Ruth in 1991. At the time, Heritage Quest was a dealer for Automated Archives, an early producer of genealogy databases on CD-ROM. Heritage Quest was an exhibitor at a conference in Oregon that year. Ruth came to my table and bought every Automated Archives CD that I had for sale! And from that time forward she was one of my best customers, soon becoming a dear friend. More than once she was there to help when I most needed it. The last time I got to spend any time with her was during the 2012 Salt Lake Christmas Tour. Thanks to the kind donation of tickets to the Annual Christmas Concert by Lud and Lois Gritzo, Ruth, Jan Healy and I were able to attend the concert. What a treat!
Ruth’s service will be held June 5, 2015 at River View Chapel in Portland Oregon. She will be buried in the family plot in Salem, Orgeon.
Ruth planned to open a genealogy library in the Portland, Oregon area for many years. She’s collected books for as long as I knew her, which was about 25 years. During the last decade or so, Ruth purchased many major collections that she planned to place in her library. During the last couple years Ruth’s health declined, and it looked like the planned library might end up only being a dream. Because of this, the board of directors of the planned Conner-Bishop Historical Resource Center struck a deal with another dear friend, Arlene Eakle, of Tremonton, Utah. Arlene has been building a library for many years also, to which many of us (myself included) have donated genealogy-related books and materials. The genealogical portion of the Conner-Bishop Library was transferred to Arlene. So Ruth’s dream will be carried on. She will be missed.
