June Hope Bishop

JUNE H. BISHOP               June Hope (Unwin) Bishop, youngest child of James Harvey and Lillie Mae (McClaran) Unwin was born June 5, 1924 west of Joy Coy in Baca County, Colorado.  She departed this life December 9, 2011 at Southeast Colorado Hospital in Springfield, Colorado.             When she was young, June would spend hours riding her pony across the mesas and plains surrounding the family ranch.  June graduated from Kim High School in 1941, going on to nursing school in Denver.  Later she worked for Dr. D. D. Hamilton in Springfield.             Following his return from World War II, she met Elba Ray “Budge” Bishop.  They were married August 29, 1946 at Clayton, New Mexico.  Two sons were born of this union, Larry Ray and Richard Alan.             Beginning their farm and ranch enterprise on a shoe string, they worked long hard hours to build what became one of the larger operations in the county.  During the broomcorn years Budge was named “Broomcorn King” by the National Broomcorn Growers Association, and June was, without question, his queen.  She supervised the kitchen work, cooked three meals a day, ran errands, bought groceries and clothing, kept books and did anything else that needed done for up to 125 “Johnnies”.  Together, they attended numerous broomcorn conventions throughout the United States             June’s other travels would include the World’s Fair, Hawaii, Mexico, Las Vegas, a Caribbean cruise and various locations where Budge’s army reunions were held.             When the sons were young, the family hobby was raising, training and braking Shetland ponies for sale and entertainment on their farm/ranch southeast of Springfield.  June fondly remembered the pair of dapple grey Shetlands they hitched to an open-topped buggy with a single high seat and drove in the Baca County Fair parade.             June, called June Bug or Gramma June by many, loved to have fun and was always fun to be with!    She bowled many, many years and participated in state and national bowling tournaments with her numerous bowling buddies.  On Saturday nights, you would most likely find her helping at the VFW dances, and Sundays she would be at the Two Buttes Lake cabin they bought to enjoy boating and water skiing with the family.  She was one of the senior trip sponsors with Larry’s class to New Orleans in 1965.              To say that June was a baseball “nut” would be an understatement!  Her TV was always tuned to the major league games, and she loved watching her grandchildren play little league and high school games.  She became a passionate fan of the Colorado Rockies and one of the highlights of her life was to attend a World Series game to watch them play during “Rocktober” in 2007.             She was also an ardent and vocal Broncos and Nuggets fan and was privileged to attend a Nuggets game.  She seldom missed any of the oldest great-granddaughter’s basketball games, even traveling to Washington, D.C. to watch her play.             Always a supporter of the community, June was a major contributor to 4-H, FFA, Jaycees, the county beauty pageant, youth baseball, fire departments, and the hospital.  The Ray and June Bishop Foundation was established to award scholarships to deserving Baca County high school seniors.             June was a member of the United Methodist Church, Fort William Bent Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and became a life member of VFW Auxiliary 4001 in 1974.              Preceding June in death were her parents; husband; two brothers, Francis and Harvey; and great-grandson, Dillon Jett.  Left to mourn her passing are sons Larry and wife Anita of Springfield, CO, and Dick and wife Jenny of Amarillo, TX; six grandchildren, Staci Bishop, Leah Bishop, Troy Bishop, Dani Walker, Danha Shirling and Doug Bishop; thirteen great-grandchildren and another on the way; aunt, Gladys Carr; and sister-in-law, Alice Unwin.