The State of The Bishop Union
Annual Christmas Letters:
Christmas 2001
Happy Holidays
In most ways, 2001 has been a normal year for us, some things have changed and some things have remained the same.
Among the things that remained the same, Max and Kerri still head off to work each morning and Kylene heads off to school. Max still spends most Saturdays at his airplane hanger and Sundays are his honey-do days. Kerri still spends her Saturdays on laundry and household chores and her Sundays attempting to keep Max moving on the honey-do projects. Kylene spends most of her time trying to get away from homework and to be off somewhere with her many friends (which includes too many boys, I’m afraid) and Scott still lives with us and spends most of his free time at the computer.
Max’s dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s more than a
year ago and is continuing to do
Among the changes in our lives this year was the burglary of our home. Insurance covered most of what was taken but the biggest loss was our sense of security. It will take a long time to recover that.
Another change is the effects of 9/11 on Max’s employer,
Boeing. Although about 15,000Boeing employee’s have already been told to leave
(unfortunately, just before Christmas) and another 15,000 or so are expected to
go next year, Max is on the military side of the company and his division seems
to be getting even more work than before. In addition, Max assumed his duties
when supervisor, Bob Mckee, retired last April and
after a long delay due to some office politics, was finally promoted to the
management position in October. The new job’s not as much fun as the old one
but the extra pay helps.
This November brought a
very positive change for Kerri. In the process of selling his business,
Kerri’s boss moved her out of his home office and into a new building while he
continues to work from his house until the new company eventually takes over his
accounts. With no boss looking over their shoulders and the two of them alone in
the office, work for Kerri and her friend Terri has gone from being a real drag
to an ‘almost’ pleasant experience (note the emphasis on the word,
almost).
Son Scott didn’t fair so
well near the end of 2001. His dot com employer finally met its’ demise and
he’s been out of work since early November. He was given a fair amount of
severance pay and is collecting unemployment so he is getting by but this is not
a good time of year to be looking for a job.
The changes to Kylene’s life include a new part-time job. Former
neighbor and friend, Jeep Keyser bought a pizza parlor about 2 blocks from our
house and Kylene really enjoys working there 2 or 3 days a week. Kylene also spent over a month this
summer at her aunt Karmen’s in
Although Max graduated from
Meridian High School (Sanford, Michigan) in 1964, he missed that reunion so, in
July, he flew back to Michigan for a few days to sneak in on the “class of
1966” gatherings. He thinks that he had a better time than anyone there
because it had been more than 35 years since he had seen any of those great kids
from way back when.
While Max was in Michigan,
Kerri’s sister Karmen drove Kylene to Kerri’s
and Karmen’s home town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, while
Kerri and Scott drove up at the same time to meet with her and pick up Ky. Kerri
had a good visit with brother Richard and his wife Sandy who still live in
Cheyenne and they all spent some time at Cheyenne’s Frontier Rodeo days, and
haunting old haunts and reliving old lives.
Of two short vacations we
all took together this year, one was a 4 day trip to Karmen’s
house in Onawa to celebrate Thanksgiving and Mom’s 95th Birthday.
Most of Kerri’s family was able to make the trip, the weather was very good
(for
All in all, even though there were a few
bumps in the road, our trip through 2001 was a pretty good one and we are
hopeful that our travels through the next year and beyond will just get better
and better.
Christmas 2002
Happy
Holidays,
It
seems that it was just a week ago that I finished last year’s Christmas
letter. Sure was a busy week though with quite a few happenings both small and
large.
As
with most years, some things remained the same. Max, Kerri and Scott still head
off to work each morning and Kylene heads off to school. Max still spends most
Saturdays at his airplane hanger and Sundays are his honey-do days. Kerri still
spends her Saturdays on laundry and household chores and her Sundays attempting
to keep Max moving.
Dad’s
mental health as a result of Alzheimer’s continues it’s
slow deterioration. Fortunately, he still recognizes all of us when we visit.
Physically, he hasn’t changed much except he has developed a shaking in his
right arm as a side affect of the medication. Mom still
seems to be coping OK with Dad’s care and, in general, they are still doing
well.
Max’s
management job at Boeing is going OK and, even though Boeing continues its’
layoffs (about 30,000 by years end, I think), his department has been hiring
many new software engineers to meet the requirements of several ongoing and new
contracts. Although Max had one big project that took 5, 12 hour day 7 day
weeks, most of his work has been pretty steady and routine.
What
Kerri thought would continue be an improvement in her work situation a year ago
last November (when the company was taken over by a new owner) has turned out to
be not so good.
She’s still trying to figure out what to do about it.
2002
began better than 2001 ended for son Scott. He was able to find a new job early
this year at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, a school for fancy chefs, and is
now their Computer System Network Administrator. In his spare time, he is also
taking computer system classes at
Daughter
Kylene left her part time job and had a pretty uneventful summer. She spent most
of it just “hangin’ “with her friends. She was struggling again in school
this fall so her mom moved her to a nearby Charter school where she is doing
much better. A senior this year, she may even graduate from High School a few
months early, in February.
Max,
Kerri and Kylene took their annual 4 day trip to Kerri’s sister Karmen’s
house in
brother Richard and his family, most of Kerri’s kinfolk
were able to make the trip. The weather was cold this time but we all had lots
of very good food and many very good visits.
Max
accompanied his mom and dad to
Randy
and wife Linda were great hosts and were able to gather a bunch of old friends
and neighbors together for a nearly day long cook out and drink-fest. Max, Roger
and Richard did what they could to run around and meet and say hello to friends and acquaintances that they hadn’t seen in years.
A special treat was when the Burgess’s, who own the house on Eastman Road that
Dad built, were very kind and gave Max, Mom and Dad a tour to show us the
impressive changes and improvements to the house and the yard that they have
made over the years.
We
are glad that, for the most part, this year turned out to be better than last
and are hoping for even better times in 2003 for all of us and for you and
yours.
Have
a very, very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Happy New Year,
Christmas 2003
Happy Holidays,
It’s been an eventful year. Not all of the events have
been welcome but life, being somewhat of a gamble, often gives us no choice but
to play with the cards that we are dealt.
Dad’s Alzheimer’s disease had been progressing slowly and was mostly manageable but this summer, he began to have unexpected heart problems. With a short stay in the hospital, we thought that the problems were sort of under control until, over a period of about a week or so, he started to have swallowing difficulties, became weak and died suddenly in mid July.
It’s been a rough experience for all of us of course, but fortunately for Mom, brother Roger’s retirement from the Post Office this spring has made it possible for him to stay with her and help her to make the enormous adjustment to Dad’s loss. As he would have wished, Dad is buried in the Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery in North Phoenix.
Brother Patrick and wife Raynee moved here from Florida a few years ago and we were sad when they made the decision to sell their house and when Raynee moved to North Carolina to be with daughter Tracy, husband John and the two grandkids. Patrick has just recently left his work here in Arizona to be with them.
We were fortunate to get Kerri’s mom to come and stay with us from October until the Thanksgiving holiday when we took her home for the annual Kranz gathering. We had a very pleasant celebration of her 97th birthday while she was here. Unfortunately, during our visit at sister Karmen’s in Onawa, Iowa over Thanksgiving, Mom Kranz also developed pneumonia and heart problems and ended up in the hospital. She is home now under a nurse’s care but, although hopeful, we are fearful of the consequences of that event.
The year’s remaining events were, thankfully, much less traumatic.
Max’s job at Boeing is going OK and, as with last year,
even though Boeing continues its’ layoffs in the commercial aircraft
divisions, the Mesa division and his department have been hiring many engineers
to meet the requirements of ongoing and new contracts. Also, as with last year,
although most of his work is pretty steady and routine, Max again has had to
work extra on a couple more big projects that have taken a bunch of 12 hour day
7 day weeks. He sure wishes that things would slow down again. When he’s not at work, Max still spends
his Saturdays at the airplane hanger. He hasn’t flown much this year but when
his hanger buddies bought a wrecked airplane to repair and sell, he spent quite
a bit of his Saturday time helping them out. They hope to have that project
flying again before Christmas.
Kerri’s situation at work continued to deteriorate, so
she quit. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on her varying perspective at
any given time, unless it is complete retirement, she has yet to find her next
calling in life. Kerri now spreads her Saturday and Sunday work at home over a
whole week and doesn’t seem to complain a lot about having too much to do.
Just before Mom Kranz came to
visit, son Scott moved to a Scottsdale apartment closer to where he works as a
Computer System Network Administrator at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute. We
think most of his spare time has been spent (happily) at his computer or with
friends.
Daughter Kylene graduated from her Charter High school in
February. After she spent most of the summer “hangin’
“with her boyfriend Aaron and their other friends, she began attending Mesa
Community College, a local Jr. college just 4 miles from home. Until recently,
she has also been working a part time job.
This certainly could have been a better year but we are
glad that most of us still remain relatively healthy and happy and are hopeful
for a lot more fun next year. We are also hopeful that your 2004 will be better
than ever as well.
Have a very, very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Happy New
Year,
Love to you all,
Christmas 2004
2004 Holiday
greetings from the Bishops in
Another eventful
year has passed so quickly that, already, the memories are just a blur…
Although we are doing well and have had a few gains, we’ve also had some
pretty significant losses.
Max’s Uncle
Jim, his mom’s brother, was diagnosed with cancer and, while he was able to
keep his sense of humor to the end, he did suffer more than we would have liked
in the process. Born on November 14, 1931, he died on August 5. Over the
years, Max wasn’t able to spend much time with Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara, but he
does have many fond memories of times with them and their kids while growing up
and, though he will continue enjoying those memories, Max will miss Jim...
After 97 years,
Kerri’s mom also had a rough time as she continued to experience the heart
problems that began last year. A pacemaker helped for a while and Kerri went
back to Onawa for a month to help care for her. With therapy and home health
care she appeared to be getting a little stronger so Kerri came home with some
hope for the better. Unfortunately, within a week of Kerri’s return to
Max will also
miss his dad’s Uncle Burton Tabor who had a farm near Bannister,
On a more
positive side, although she occasionally threatens herself with finding a job,
Kerri is still enjoying her early retirement. She decided to try a bit of
gardening this year and the results have been very tasty. The nice thing about
Max’s
job is keeping him as busy as ever and, as with last year, though Boeing
continues a slump on the commercial aircraft (airliner) side, the Mesa division
is all military and his department has been hiring as many engineers as it can,
as fast as it can to keep up with work demands. Recreationally, Max helped his
hanger buddies rebuild a wrecked airplane that they bought on Labor Day last
year and spent quite a bit of his Saturday time on that project until it was
done and sold early this year. Although that project and a recent month long
illness took time away from his ongoing new airplane building project, he and
partner Doug Brown are back at that again and it is now beginning to look more
like an airplane than just a pile of parts.
Son Scott’s job
as a Computer Network Administrator at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute is
going well. He still lives in his
Kylene is still
attending nearby
Although she
greatly misses Dad, Max’s mom is staying healthy and doing well. Fortunately
for all of us, Brother Roger
Brother Richard
has moved into an apartment in north
Happily for us,
Brother Patrick and wife Raynee have returned to
With the losses we had, this certainly could have been a better year but we are glad that
Love to you all,
Max,
Kerri, Scott
Christmas 2005
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to
All… 2005 Bishop News from
Arizona
The
years are getting shorter as usual but, in hindsight, it might have been good to
have skipped this one altogether… At least the month of July…
Max’s
health problems from last October and November have abated considerably but
still persist. He’s not really sick but is uncomfortable much of the time with
an occasional but chronic cough and an almost continuous postnasal drip.
Medicine helps to control the symptoms but the insurance company has spent an
awful lot of money on hospitals, doctors and diagnostic tests in Max’s quest
to try and figure out what’s wrong,
Fortunately,
Kerri, Scott and Kylene are feeling fine. Although we are pretty disappointed
that Ky dropped out of school this spring, she has promised to go back next
spring with at least a couple of classes. She did take a job this fall as a
hostess at a local seafood restaurant and is doing well there and enjoying it.
She also moved into a nearby apartment with a couple of girlfriends. The lease
runs out in January so we’ll see how that goes… ;-) For now,
we’re empty nesters.
Scott
is still doing well as an IT Administrator at Scottsdale Culinary Institute. So well that he recently bought his own Condo not too far from
here. A bit bigger than a single guy needs but it looks like a good
neighborhood to settle down in at the ripe old age of 36.
Kerri
is not enjoying her early retirement as much as she’d like but knows it’s a
whole lot better than working. At least until she finally figures out what she
wants to be when she grows up.
As I hinted…
July was not a good month. On the 3rd,
Kerri got the sad news that her sister Naomi (Rusty) had died. Rusty was
70 and did have some health problems but we didn’t think that they were quite
as serious as they apparently were. Added to that, on the 4th,
Max’s brother Patrick was killed in a motorcycle accident. A real double whammy.
We
thought about canceling but with vacations already planned, on the 13th,
Kerri went to
While
in
While
in
Brother
Richard still has his son Josh living with him and both are doing well. Josh has
been hired on full time at Honeywell and we’re all happy about his success
there.
Mom
and Roger are doing well in Casa Grande and both have been traveling some.
Sadly, they had to abort one trip to
We
are expecting and hoping that the past year and the year to come are good for
you and yours and that all your wishes (including those pesky New Years
resolutions) for the season will come true…
Have
a great holiday…
Love,
Max, Kerri, Scott and Kylene
Christmas 2006
Christmas 2007
Of
course, this year’s gone by as fast as they all do now at our age but at
least, in a good way, it has been fairly uneventful. More good than bad, happy
than sad…
This
summer, out of the blue, Kerri’s long time hairdresser decided to switch
careers and started a Laser body care business (skin rejuvenation and hair
removal) and asked Kerri to be her Office Manager. She enjoys her new job most
of the time but the new business has been a little slow at gathering new
customers so she’s only working three days a week right now. Hopefully, after
the first of the year, things will pick up.
Of
course, a new job also required a new car so Kerri traded her old Chrysler
Sebring in for a new Toyota Solara.
Kerri
spent 3 weeks in May with her niece, Glenette in
Kerri
also went to
With
some ups and downs, daughter Kylene has been doing OK as a server at a place
called Redfish but when she went in on December 17th, she and her
work friends were shocked when told to gather their things and leave. The
Fortunately
for son Scott, though there have been some changes, the
Max’s
job hasn’t changed much as, with the war on and all, the military side of
Boeing continues to prosper. It’s the
Max’s
mom is doing fine and busier than ever. Brother Rex wasn’t doing well in on
kidney dialysis in
Melissa
seems to have handled the transition most easily and is doing well in school and
has many newfound friends in the neighborhood. And, after months of looking,
Ginger just found what appears to be a good job.
Brother Roger had surgery at the VA
hospital in
We wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. God’s blessings to everyone.
Christmas 2008... No Letter
Christmas 2009
From
the Max & Kerri Bishop’s
|
|
As always, each new year seems to go faster than the last
and this one has been no exception. |
Max and Kerri drove a U-Haul van to
Christmas 2013
This has been a fairly
eventful year for the Arizona Bishops.
Son Scott's job at
insurance company, Royal Neighbors of America, is going well. This summer he
moved closer to work and now lives in Apache Junction. Even better news for him
was that he was recently promoted to a more profitable position.
Daughter Kylene is now
working in the copy center at a nearby Staples office supply store. The job is
only part time but that makes it easier for her to do very, very well at Mesa
Community College.
Kerri is now spending two
days a week at an emergency clothing Christian charity store called The Clothes
Cabin and enjoys her work there. The
store receives donated items from the community and other sources.
They provide clothing for families that have lost jobs or have other
circumstances needing the Cabin. In
addition, the Clothes Cabin washes and dries clothing for the homeless.
He's not doing enough
flying but since his move from Falcon Field in Mesa to Chandler Municipal
Airport in October of 2012, work on Max's current airplane project is going much
better. He had hoped to have it flying by year's end but other fun things have
slowed progress some and he has rescheduled his finish date to sometime next
spring.
On July 3rd, we headed off
for a month long vacation trip to visit family and friends. Our first stop was
Cheyenne, Wyoming to visit with Kerri's brother Richard and family. The weather,
visit and card games all went very well and we had a great time there.
Our next stop was at sister
Karmen's in Onawa, Iowa to spend some time with Karmen, her kids and her
friends. We were mistaken to expect cooler weather than we had in Arizona and
though the heat and humidity there was bad, the visits were good...
The third stop was in
Pella, Iowa to visit friend Marianne. Again
the weather was too warm but the visit was good. A highlight there was a tour of
an authentic Dutch windmill that still grinds wheat for the fabulous bakery
there in Pella, and life size model of an early Pella community. It was very
interesting and we heartily recommend it if you're ever in the Pella/Des Moines
area.
After that we headed for
Iron River in the upper peninsula of Michigan to visit Max's sister Barb and her
family. We finally got to meet Barb and Stan's daughter Anitha and son Mariapa.
Again, the weather was unseasonably warm but again, the visit was great.
From there we traveled
south to Beaverton, Michigan to stay a few days with Max's brother Randy and
wife Linda. Kerri and Max did a little sight seeing around Max's old stomping
grounds. We were happy to be able to spend a little time with Randy's son Ryan
and daughter Beth when they had time and we could talk for at least a few
minutes. We also got to spend some time in Coleman with Aunt June and cousin
Penney. We saw June's son Charlie for the first time in many years and had a
short visit as well with her son Scott.
The next stop was a nice
overnight visit with Max's Aunt Sara at Lake Lansing.
We continued on to
Lexington, Kentucky from there to visit Max's life long friend, Mike Kauppi and
his wife Ann. We had a really great
time and a lot of catch-up conversation.
Our last stop before home
was in Holyrood, Kansas where we spent a couple of days with Kerri's sister
Julie and husband Lee. Highlights there were dinner at a unique restaurant and a
visit to a nearby wildlife area called Cheyenne Bottoms.
The trip seemed a bit too
long and a bit too far but we got home safely and happily on July 30th.
To escape the Arizona
summer heat, we had been thinking about it for awhile, and our trip there and
back confirmed that we wanted to do it, so Max took a plane ride back to
Michigan in early October to buy a summer home there.
After a few days of driving around, he found what we wanted so we are now
the proud owners of a cabin in the woods just a bit south of Houghton Lake. The
current plan is to travel to Michigan in May when the weather there is
comfortable and return to Arizona in October after the hot weather has ended.
Stop by and see us if you're in Michigan.
In November, we drove to
Julie's in Kansas for an early family reunion/Thanksgiving.
Richard and daughter, Kathy, drove from Wyoming, and Karmen left from
Iowa. For us the car trip there was in perfect weather but the trip home was a
bit too exciting (nerve wracking) in ice and snow. Luckily, we all made it home
safely.
Back at home in Arizona,
after a previously successful surgery a few years ago, brother Roger's shoulder
began hurting him again so he had his right shoulder joint replaced and, though
still healing, is recovering nicely.
The number of Arizona Bishops has been reduced by one. While nobody was looking, Max's brother Richard's son Josh got married and returned to Michigan to live with his new bride.
All in all it's been a
pretty good year for us and we hope yours went at least as well and wish you all
a happy and prosperous 2014...
Love and good health to
all.
Take
care and be well…