Willard Allen Bishop

WILLARD ALLEN BISHOP Funeral services for longtime Cortez resident Willard Allen Bishop will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 30 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located on Empire Street. Bishop Mortensen will officiate. Interment will follow at the Lebanon Cemetery. Visitation has been set for Monday afternoon from 4-6 p.m. at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Willard was born April 2, 1924 at Arriola, Colo. the son of Wilbur and Ruby (Short) Bishop. He passed away at Southwest Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, March 24, 2004. He was 79 years old. On April 2, 1947, Willard’s 23rd birthday, he married Nina Lee Cook. From this union five children were born, Linda, Bruce, Barbara, Ronda and Kelly. Nina passed away Feb. 19, 2004. Surviving Willard are his children, Linda Burns and husband, Bob of Durango, Bruce Bishop and wife, Vonita of Etna, Calif., Barbara Mellott and husband, Jim of Kenai, Alaska, Ronda Lancaster and husband, Sam of Pleasant View, and Kelly Candelaria and husband, Jim of Cortez; 14 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren and two due in September; and his sister, Nelta Wilson of Aurora, Colo. He also leaves his pet “Rosie the Kid” behind. Willard is preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Nina; brother, Robert “Bob” Bishop; sisters, Minnie Ashby, Billie Hall and Barbara Evans; and his grandson, Derek Lancaster who is waiting with open arms at Heaven’s Gate.