Pauline Hance Bishop

Pauline “Polly” Hance Bishop, 89, was born in the Sandy Ridge area near Dandridge, grew up in Chestnut Hill, and attended Maury High School in Dandridge, where she was the captain of the district-winning basketball team in her senior year.

She studied at Draughon’s Business College prior to her marriage to John C. Bishop. The couple met on a bus ride, where he was arriving in Chestnut Hill while designing/building a conveyer system at Bush Bros. Canning Factory and she was leaving to attend business school in Knoxville. Their romance began when John purchased Pauline’s pie at a church “pie supper” for the then huge amount of $5, and she ate pie with the winning bidder. They were married and moved to Oak Ridge, where John had earlier worked at the then World War II secret city.

Pauline was known to her many friends as Polly and to her granddaughter Brigid as MomBish. She was active in her church and in the community. She served in many capacities for Trinity’s Methodist Womens group and sang in the church choir. She was Room Mother for 1st-5th grades while her son attended “old” Linden Elementary and was Den Mother for the Cub Scouts. She sang with the Sweet Adelines, was a member of Beta Sigma Phi sorority, a board member of Oak Ridge Employees Credit Union, and represented the Oak Ridge Credit Unions Association at state meetings in Memphis. Her longest running contribution was her many years of work with the Contact Helpline. [Read more…]