Sussex County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Bishop, Robert L., 1993 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ Robert Lee Bishop of Waverly is dead His general store attracted sportsmen BY ELLEN ROBERTSON TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Robert Lee Bishop, an outdoorsman whose country store in Waverly was an institution as a gathering place for sportsmen, died of a heart attack Thursday in a Hopewell hospital. He was 84. Bishop's Store, a one-room operation whose green walls had yellowed from the effects of countless cigarettes and cigars, had borne witness "to some terrible tall tales about hunting, fishing and women," said Mr. Bishop, its owner and operator for 45 years, in a 1980 interview. A lifelong Waverly resident, he opened his store about 1948 and lived his life listening to some of the "biggest lies" he ever heard about his patrons' latest hunting or fishing expeditions. Many customers said he told as many big ones as anyone else. One patron said there were more deer killed in the one room of Bishop's Store "than in all of Sussex County." Mr. Bishop arrived at his whitewashed clapboard store, which sold everything from wine to diapers, every day at 6 a.m. During the evening hours before he closed at 10 p.m., 25 to 40 men would squeeze into the store to gossip, smoke, check out the minnow boxes and fishing crickets and drink beer. Mr. Bishop said his two biggest sellers were hundreds of gallons of gasoline and beer. He incorporated the business in 1980 with a son. An avid hunter and fisherman, Mr. Bishop's main hobby was his hunting dogs. He was known for introducing members of younger generations to the outdoors, helping found the Waverly Youth Hunt Club. Calling himself a farmer at heart, Mr. Bishop lived on a farm near his store, raising peanuts and, for a time, canteloupes until about 10 years ago when he retired and rented his land. Mr. Bishop was a member of Waverly United Methodist Church, the Waverly Youth Hunt Club and the Waverly Retail Merchants Association. He was a former member of the Waverly Volunteer Fire Department, the Waverly Hunt Club and the Waverly Ruritan Club. He was the widower of Undine White Bishop, who died in 1989. Survivors include two sons, Arthur Leon Bishop of Chester and Charles William Bishop of Waverly; and three sisters, Helen Brown of Portsmouth, Florence Sode of Waverly and Marie Elliston of Cleveland, Tenn. A funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Waverly United Methodist Church in Waverly. Burial will be in Waverly Cemetery. The family suggests that memorial gifts be made to the Waverly Volunteer Rescue Squad or the Waverly United Methodist Church Memorial Fund. Robert Lee BISHOP, farmer & merchant - proprietor of "Bishop's Store," lifelong Waverly resident, d. 29 Jul 1993, Hopewell, age 84, interred in Waverly Cemetery*, 1 Aug 1993, "Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch," Sat., July 31, 1993, p. B-2 *Photos of his marker is posted with Find A Grave Memorial #105706451, which gives b. 24 Nov 1908. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Carolyn Keen (VAHistoricHouses@aol.com), and transcribed by File Manager Matt Harris. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/sussex/obits/b210r1ob.txt