Stella Mae Bishop

Stella Mae Atha Bishop, 101, of Berrien Center, died Friday, Sept. 14, 2018 at Pine Ridge Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Stevensville.

Funeral services will be at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 17, at Bowerman Funeral Home in Eau Claire, with Pastor Bill Zebell of Berrien Center Bible Church officiating. Friends may visit beginning at 10:30 a.m. and online memories may be shared at www.bowermanfuneral.com. Memorials may be made to the church or to Caring Circle Hospice.

Stella was born Feb. 22, 1917 in Niles to Charles and Alice Atha. She married Russell Wayne Bishop June 17, 1933 in St. Joseph. They were married for 72 happy years. They had three children: Harold, Larry and Charlene. For 25 years Stella worked alongside her husband at Bishop 66 Service Station on Main Street in Eau Claire as the bookkeeper and “parts chaser”.

She loved to be outside working in her flower and vegetable garden, and then canning and freezing what they grew. She also enjoyed sewing, crocheting and ceramics. Most of all she enjoyed spending time with her family and friends.

Stella and Russ loved traveling, first in their house trailer, and later as they rode across the country on motorcycles with their friends, camping out in pup tents well into their 70s. They enjoyed snowmobiling, and then for many years they enjoyed wintering in Arizona with their friends.

Left to cherish her memory are her children, Harold and Charlene (Roger) Bishop; 14 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; 23 great-great-grandchildren; and special niece, Alice Miller.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Marjory Prillwitz and Dolpha Reed; husband, Russell; son, Larry; twin granddaughters; and a great-granddaughter.