Biographies: Frank "Mack" Bishop, 1976, Winn Parish, La.
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: June 2, 1976 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American

Frank "Mack" Bishop, Pool's His Resource

At 71, Frank "Mack" Bishop is one of the oldest employed persons in Winn
Parish.

Bishop, of 1117 Ogden Street, has been working for the past 20 years at the
Winnfield Recreation Center.  As general caretaker, one of his biggest jobs
right now is maintaining the swimming pool, a job that is not always easy. 
Bishop's work includes treating the water with chemicals, keeping pool filters
in top condition, patching the concrete, cleanup and painting.  Other jobs
consist of janitor work in the gymnasium, lawn care, and dozens of maintenance
jobs here and there.

Before working at the recreation center, he worked as a saw filer and log
scaler for many of the sawmills in Winnfield.  "I just learned what I had to
know to get a job."  The timber industries were booming in Winnfield when
Bishop moved to the area.

"I came to Winnfield in 1904 on the Rock Island Railroad from Junction City,
Arkansas," he recalled.  "There wasn't much to Winnfield then.  The main
streets were lined with large oak trees and there was a hitching post every
few feet, for the horses."

This was also during the time that the Long family came into prominence in
Winn Parish.

"I knew the Long family well," he continued.  He recalled being hospitalized
in Shreveport when Huey Long was governor. 

"Huey came in one day to see me while I was in the hospital," he said.  "That
was when the governor made inspections of the hospitals himself.  He didn't
send a man around to check things out.  Those people were really on their toes
after that."

In remembering the early 1900s, Bishop also recalled owning the second
automobile in Winnfield, a Model T Ford.  He said the roads in the area were
all dirt and sometimes mud.  Progress proceeded during all those years with
the paving of the streets and expansion of the city.

"Winnfield has really grown sine I came here, but it didn't all happen
overnight," Bishop said.  The size of the city was not the only change taking
place as Bishop noted a change in young people today.  He said they are
different because "they don't have to work as hard as we did growing up."

"Mr. Mack," as he is called by his friends, has a special fondness for small
children.  He has played Santa Clause for the City of Winnfield for 20 years,
hearing the Christmas wishes of countless number of children.  "I like to be
around the little children," he said.