Mary Ellen Bishop

Mary Ellen ‘Maidi’ Williams Bishop, 91, passed peacefully into eternal rest with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Wednesday, December 4, 2024 in Cary, North Carolina. She was the widow of Henry Kirby “Tommy” Bishop. Graveside services will be held Saturday, December 14 at 11:00 am in Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, SC. Dunbar Funeral Home on Devine Street is assisting the family.

Born on March 16, 1933 in Columbia Hospital on Harden Street in Columbia, SC. Mary Ellen was the third of six children born to her parents, George Thomas Williams and Lillian Johnson Williams. She always spoke fondly of her childhood and the fun times she and her siblings and friends spent in the Elmwood Park area. Mary Ellen worked for JC Penney on Main Street while attending Columbia High School and then for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) upon graduation in 1951.

In 1948 Mary Ellen,15, met Tommy Bishop, 17, on a blind date. Tommy was home on leave after completing Navy boot camp. They married in September 1959 and left for Germany for a four and a half year posting with the Navy. It was an exciting time filled with travel, new friends who became old friends, plenty of snow, and returning home with two little girls in 1964.

Mary Ellen returned to work at the IRS and later for the Palmetto Trust Federal Credit Union from where she retired in 1998 as a branch manager. She and Tommy traveled and enjoyed their grandchildren in retirement together until he passed in 2004 after 44 years of marriage. Mary Ellen continued to travel, visiting one daughter who lived in Australia and later in Germany. In 2014 Mary Ellen moved to Raleigh, NC to be near her daughters following a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

Through all the years in Columbia, Mary Ellen was a member of Park Street Baptist Church, now the Village Church, in the Elmwood Park neighborhood. She grew up and was baptized there, sang solos in the choir, taught children’s Sunday School for more than twenty years, and served on many committees over the years.

There are just too many memories and not enough space to fully describe Mary Ellen. If you knew her you know she had a lovely smile and beautiful blue-green eyes. She could do a ‘taxi cab’ whistle without using her fingers, even at 91! She was a wonderful cook, compassionate, would come to your defense in a flash, had a green thumb, wrote poetry, loved to read and listen to music, was accepted into the University of South Carolina but had to go to work instead, cared about people, and loved her family and friends. We will miss her, but we know she resides in the place Jesus has prepared for her and is rejoicing in our Savior’s presence. We love you 85, Mom.

The family would like to thank the administration and staff at Spring Arbor of Cary, Memory Care for their loving and attentive care of Mary Ellen. They were a true blessing. Thank you also to Amedysis Hospice Care for the compassionate service they provided, particularly Holly and Gwen.

In addition to her husband and parents, Mary Ellen was predeceased by her sister Dorothy Louise Williams, brother Thomas Vance Williams and sister-in-law Betty Hensley Williams, brother George Thaddeus Williams, Sister Jeanne Williams Mitchell, brother-in-law A. Frank Harrison III, nephews Brian Williams Harrison and Thaddeus Russell Williams, and nephew-in-law Alvin Maxcy Carter.

Those cherishing fond memories of Mary Ellen are daughters Jeanne Bishop Shekmer (David) and Laura Bishop Quattlebaum (David); Grandchildren Ryan Quattlebaum (Amanda) and Allison Quattlebaum; Great-grandchildren Ella, Reagan, Hadley, and Audrey Quattlebaum; Sister Joanne Harrison; Nieces Dottie Covington (Mike), Patti Carter McKown (Bob), Terri Connor (Don), Virginia Williams, Cecilia Powell (Todd), Deborah Bishop Guber (Myles), Cheri Bishop Baird (David), Nephew Michael Harrison, and many great-nieces and great-nephews.

Memorials may be made to The Alzheimer’s Association at act.alz.org or to a charity of your choice.