Obituary of Doris Christine Bishop

BISHOP, Doris Christine Doris died May 16 while a resident of the Wolfville Nursing Home. She had been a resident there for four and a half years. Born July 14, 1921 she was the beloved adopted daughter of Leander C. Bishop and his wife, Madeline E. (Harvey) Bishop. Doris attended Greenwich School and Wolfville High School. This was followed by two years of study in voice and piano at the Acadia School of Music. She was active in the Port Williams Baptist Church and Greenwich United Church Choirs and assisted with the Junior Choirs in both churches. She was a Brownie and Girl Guide and later a Brownie Leader in Greenwich and in Edmunston, NB. She was also actively involved in the Greenwich Community Association. In later years she was a member of the Acadia University Chorus. During WWII she worked at the Wolfville Acadian where she helped to set type and bind books. In 1946 she married the late Howard M. Pulsifer and raised three children. She also began to give piano lessons. Ken Bezanson was her first pupil and greatest success. After Howard's death she attended Mack's Business College, graduating in 1969. At this time she and her children legally changed their surname to Bishop. Doris joined the staff of Acadia University Library in 1969 as an assistant in the reference department. At the time of her retirement in 1987 she was secretary to the chief librarian. Following family tradition she was a member and Past Noble Grand of Horton Rebekah Lodge and Past District Deputy of the Canning to Hantsport District. She was also a "Friend of the West Nova Scotia Regiment", having helped to refurbish their Colours case when it moved to its new home in Borden Hall, Camp Aldershot in the 1990s. Plagued with failing eyesight by age 50 she continued to work and to knit. Blindness only made her more determined to cope and she trained three dogs and cats to be her eyes around the house. She was a keen outdoors enthusiast who enjoyed camping, hunting, and especially fishing. She fished up to the age of 89. In her seventies she learned to recognize the birds by their calls and songs. Her motto was "you are only as blind and deaf as you allow yourself to be." Besides her parents and husband, she was predeceased by an infant sister, and sisters, Caroline E. and Madeline H. She is survived by children, Joanna, Carolene (Allen Robertson), and Malcolm; grandson, Murray; special sons, Andrew Barrett, John Bennett and Timothy Sanford; and special daughter, Sherry (Griffiths) Mutton. The family wishes to thank the Wolfville Nursing Home staff and Dr. Colin Burgoyne for their exceptional care of mother. Arrangements were entrusted to DeMont Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 419 Albert St., PO Box 981, Windsor, NS BON 2TO (902-798-8317) (www.demontfamilyfuneralhome.ca), where a funeral service celebrating Doris' life was held 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, Rev. Dr. Roger Prentice officiating. A reception immediately followed in the funeral home's Elmcroft Reception Centre. Interment will take place at a later date. Donations in memory of Doris may be made to the Wolfville Nursing Home (Program Use), the Acadia University Chaplaincy Fund, or a charity of one's choice.