Obituary of Malcolm Thomas Leander Bishop

Age 65, passed away Sunday, October 31, 2021 in the Halifax Infirmary Site - Cardiac Care Unit, QEII, Halifax. Born Malcolm Howard Pulsifer on August 28, 1956, in Wolfville, he was the youngest child and only son of the late Howard Maxwell Pulsifer (1967) and Doris Christine (Bishop) Pulsifer (2017). He was known as Mac by the family. In 1970 the family legally changed their surname to Bishop and Mac decided to also change his given names to Malcolm Thomas Leander. Mac spent his early years in Greenwich, Kings Co., had a short stay in Edmundston, NB, where he started school and later New Minas and Wolfville, before making his home in Freeport, Long Island, Digby Co. A man of many talents, he worked on construction sites, in a feed mill and was a graduate of the Winona School of Professional Photography, Winona, Ill. and co-owner of a photography studio and retail business in New Minas for 12 years. After this he worked at a film development business in Coldbrook. Mac graduated from the Grade 12 academic at the old Horton High School, where his main extra-curricular activity was learning to play the French Horn and participating in the photography club. He was Horton Band president when in Grade 12. He was a member of the Horton Senior Choir and was in the Pit Orchestra and on-stage crew for several school musical theatre productions. He travelled to New Jersey and Finland on Horton Band tours and played part of one of the Mozart Horn Concertos with piano accompaniment when the Band made a recording with Paul Niemisto as director. When in Grade 9 he was proficient enough on the Horn to be asked to play with the Acadia University School of Music Vocal Ensemble and Woodwind Quintet. He continued to play with these groups after High School. Mac was very involved for several summers with an “Opportunities For Youth” grant music project – The Scotia Brass Quintet. This group toured Nova Scotia during July and August. At this time, he was a very active member of the West Nova Scotia Regiment military band. One of the highlights was his participation in the Regiment’s first Trooping of the Colour Ceremony at Camp Aldershot in 1970. Having been in Cub Scouts in Port Williams and involved with the Reserve Army Band at an early age, he valued the skills he learned and the friends he made there. It was a short step to volunteer as a leader with the Kentville Scouts and as a Civilian Instructor with 2444 Kings County Army Cadet Corps. After more than 15 years in photography, Mac decided to go to University and chose the Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Military History Degree. He studied with Dr. Eleanor Kyte-Senior and was the last graduate of that program at Acadia. He minored in Religious Studies with Dr. Bruce Matthews. He was awarded the University Medal in History at the 1991 Spring convocation. That Fall he returned to Acadia in the Bachelor of Education program. There he chose to focus on learning how to teach reading skills to all grades. He also specialized in remediation of learning disabilities techniques as he had a form of dyslexia himself and knew some of the challenges this presented. He firmly believed that good reading skills were the foundation to learning and to succeeding in life and that these skills should be fostered through every subject taught. He also believed that any form of learning should be a joyful experience and did his best to make it so. After doing several terms as a substitute teacher he became a full-time teacher at Islands Consolidated School (P-12), Freeport, Long Island, NS. Eventually he became the principal there. This included being the Industrial Arts teacher and sponsoring the school’s recreational fishing club. Many former students have woodworking items and fishing skills, including fly tying projects, made under his guidance. While on the Island he saw a need and took training as a medical First Responder and was a co-founder of the Fundy Ground Search and Rescue team with his best friend, John Ivans. He was also a qualified small boat instructor. He continued with these groups for many years. In his last years of teaching Mac became the teaching principal at Digby Neck School (P-6). This further honed his language arts teaching skills. He moved first to Mink Cove and later to Digby during this period. While at Digby Neck School he was coordinator of the C@P site there as well as the school breakfast program and all activities that used the building outside school hours. He was very proactive in several successful community efforts to keep the school open. Church and faith activities always played a big part in his life and he was committed member of the Little River Baptist Church while on the Neck. He was a Scout leader and later Skipper of Ship’s Company “Jerome” with the Digby Neck and Islands Sea Scout and Venture Company. Mac retired from the classroom in 2016 after more than 25 years of teaching. Always a keen aviation and space buff, the highlight of his later years was a trip along the US eastern seaboard from New York to Florida, with a stop at the Smithsonian Institution Aviation and Space Museum in Washington, DC. There he finally got to see a Moon rock specimen, an Apollo space craft and a space shuttle, as well as many vintage aircraft. His other retirement passions were collecting vintage cameras, hand tools, fly tying, fishing lure making, cooking and baking bread for neighbours and most of all fishing. He is survived by his only child, Murray, designated the “best son in the world”; loving sisters, Joanna Bishop and Carolene Robertson (Allen); an aunt and many cousins. He was also blessed with many devoted friends and cherished acquaintances. The family wish to thank the physicians and all staff at the QEII Health Sciences Centre - Cardiac Intensive Care Unit for their care and compassion shown to Mac in his last illness. Their care was exemplary in every aspect to both patient and his family. Arrangements have been entrusted to DeMont Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 419 Albert Street, Windsor (902-798-8317), where a private family service was held on Saturday, November 20, 2021, Rev. Dr. Roger Prentice officiated. Donations in Mac’s memory may be made to QEII Foundation – C/O Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, 5657 Spring Garden Road Park Lane Mall, Suite 3005, Halifax, NS B3J 3R4; VON Annapolis Valley, 9319 Commercial St. New Minas, NS B4N 3G2; Kings County SPCA, PO Box 10, Waterville NS B0P 1V0 or a charity of one’s choice. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family by visiting: www.demontfamilyfuneralhome.ca