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<em>COL Ted Eugene Bishop,</em> 75, of Berryville, VA, died Sunday, 12 Oct 2008 in the Winchester, Virginia Medical Center of heart failure related to inherited cholesterol levels. Ted was born 16 Apr 1933 in Findlay, OH, the son of Fred Joseph and Velma Agnes Hartman Bishop. He graduated from West Point with the Class of 1955.</p>
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His friend and classmate Preston Mayson left us this memory of Ted:</p>
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“I was privileged to be Ted’s roommate first class year and serve with him on the Honor Committee. He arrived at West Point already with a moral code of excellence and behavior which served him well as a cadet leader and throughout his career. To all of us who knew him well, he was a studious and determined cadet who set high achievement goals for him­self as well as for others and was intolerant of sloppiness and those who performed poorly. I am certain that these qualities followed him into his career and brought great credit to our Military Academy and the Army....”</p>
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One of Ted’s roommates at West Point was Mac McIlroy. Mac considered Ted his best friend at West Point:</p>
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“He was a gentleman, easy to like and al­ways ready to help a friend...probably the one person most responsible for my getting through academics. When I got married in Germany in 1951, Ted and Nancy Bishop and two other classmates and their wives ac­cepted my invitation to attend my wedding. That was just one example of Ted’s friendship and support of me during his life...In 1980 I retired from the Army and moved to South Carolina. My wife and I kept our house in McLean, VA, and leased it out eight to nine years. Ted assisted me by overseeing the main­tenance of our house and getting it ready for sale...he did everything with the utmost skill and patience.”</p>
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Even though he loved sailing and had thought about attending Annapolis, he served 28 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam. He retired as a colonel of engineers in 1983. His daughter Pamela tells us:</p>
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“The Army was my Dad’s other family. As a Military Academy graduate, he took the Academy’s motto of Duty, Honor, Country very seriously...he never regretted going to West Point and becoming a part of the Army Corps of Engineers.”</p>
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During his service in the Army after gradu­ation, he joined the 12th Engineer Battalion and spent three years in Germany. Ted earned a Master of Science degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois in 1961. He com­pleted the Advanced Course at the Engineer School in 1962, then served with the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam during 1962–63. He participated in the United States Lake Survey from 1963 to 1965, afterward attending the Command & General Staff College. He served on the staff and faculty of the Australian School of Military Engineering from 1966 to 1968, after which he joined the 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, in Vietnam as assistant division engineer, and then com­manded the 14th Engineer Battalion. While a battalion commander, Ted earned the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, and the Air Medal. In 1969, he worked at the Defense Communication Planning Group, U.S. Naval Observatory, for two years; then gradu­ated from the Army War College in 1972. Ted worked in the Office of the Chief of Engineers from 1972 to 1979. His next assignment was as the director of Coastal Engineering Research Center from 1979 until his retirement from the Army in 1983.</p>
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He was a member of Emmaus Church in Berryville, where he served as an Elder. He was a member of the American Legion Post 41 of Berryville, and F.I.S.H. of Clarke County, VA, a group of people who help the needy through churches, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Social Services.</p>
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He married Nancy Emma VanStronder on 26 Jun 1955 in Findlay, OH. Surviving with his wife are two daughters, Cynthia Ingels of Purcellville, VA and Pamela Ingram of Leesburg, VA; and four grandchildren, Kaia and Anika Henriksen and Jeffrey and Conner Ingram. Two brothers, Donald Bishop and Harold Bishop, preceded him in death.</p>
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Upon retiring from the Army in 1983, Ted applied his many skills in the consultant field until 1991, when he was called back to his first and favorite Army installation, Ft. Belvoir, former home of the Engineer School. There, he joined DynCorp, a major government services contracting firm, known for manage­ment of key federal facilities around the globe. Ted quickly established himself as the “go to guy,” being named director of quality on the infrastructure of engineering and support ser­vices for this vital installation supporting over 100 DOD activities. Beyond Belvoir, how­ever, he became the resident expert in “total quality management,” very much in vogue in the nineties, extending his talents to other DynCorp facilities. Recognizing his broader potential, Ted was offered the opportunity to move into other key program manage­ment positions, but chose instead to remain in Northern Virginia, where he had begun his Army career, and completed his second career there with DynCorp, retiring again in 1999. As he was laid to rest, DynCorp friends, Berryville neighbors, many classmates, and family rendered their final tributes to this fine soldier, engineer and community leader, re­membering Ted Bishop as a kind and gentle person, a true Christian soldier, deep in faith, respected and admired by all.</p>
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Pamela reminds us “...through every­thing, our dad always maintained a positive oudook and thanked God for each new day.” Be thou at peace.</p>
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<em>—Family, Winchester Star, classmates</em></p>