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Bish -- Robert LeRoy Bish passed away on June 10, 2002 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, two days after his 85th birthday. He joins his wife, Paula; and their first daughter, Pamela Dawn, who died when she was just a few days old. He left behind two children, Robert D. Bish of Farmington, NM and Jill Shortencarier and husband, Mickey of Albuquerque, NM; five grandchildren, Hillary Bish of Albuquerque, Jon Collis of Golden, CO, Jamie Rogers and husband, Zach of Denver, CO, Steven Collis and wife, Jerusha of Provo, UT, and Michaelann Shortencarier of Albuquerque; and one great-granddaughter, Grace Elizabeth Rogers of Denver; he is also survived by one sister, Doris Weaver and husband, Jim of Stamford, CT; two brothers, Donald and wife, Nancy of Roswell, NM and Paul E. and wife, Geneva of Albuquerque; and dozens of friends who knew him by many names from"Papa" to"one of The Legends." He was born on June 8, 1917 in Liberal, Kansas to LeRoy Earl and Minnie Petty Bish. He moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1923 when he was six, and his father found work at a butter factory where he made 40 dollars a week to support a family with five children. LeRoy delivered milk bottles and worked with his father for spending money. During the 1920's, he spent his days building model airplanes and reading every story he could about the pilots that flew during the Great War. The Flying Aces, the Curtis Flying Boat, the Battle of Verdun-these were the stories LeRoy learned to love, and flying became his dream. During the Depression, his teenage years, his dream intensified. Whether helping his father make cream or sitting in class, he envisioned himself high in the clouds, flying inside the real version of one of his models. In 1937, he enrolled at the University of New Mexico and later transferred to New Mexico Highlands University, where he met his future bride. Five years passed. For the world those years meant Pearl Harbor, the Nazis, World War II, friends who came home, and friends who didn't. For most young men they meant enlistment, delusions of grandeur, battle. For LeRoy they meant three times of rising hope and three times of disappointment. He enlisted in the army as a pilot in 1938 and was given a medical discharge from Moffitt Field just a few months later due to migraines. He returned to Las Vegas and while"jerking sodas" downtown, was asked by the Navy to fly for them. After training and time in Long Beach, Jacksonville, and Corpus Christi; after 100 hours in the air, he was discharged again because of migraines. He tried to enlist a third time but was again rejected. Every discharge was for medical reasons, and each remarked that he was of"outstanding character." At the end of the five years, he found himself working in the Navy's assembly and repair department in Corpus Christi, Texas. On February 9, 1942 LeRoy married Paula Bloomfield from whom he later learned a valuable lesson about money-"The money she made was hers. The money I made was ours." The following decades brought the end of the war; three children; a position for $120 a month with Continental Airlines, which at the time had only three planes; a job with the Civil Aeronautics Administration; and a six-year stint as owner of a trading post in Mancos Creek, Colorado. In 1962, he rejoined the Federal Aeronautics Administration (formerly the CAA) as an air traffic controller at Truth or Consequences, NM. In 1964, he transferred to the Department of Defense as a Range Controller at Stallion Site, White Sands Missile Range. He retired from WSMR as Chief of the Stallion Site station. In his later years, LeRoy watched his grandchildren grow and go to college. A self-proclaimed"desert rat," he toured with his wife across the highways of the Southwest in their motor home, his golf clubs in hand, his driving cap on his head. Between 1992 and 1996, he suffered a stroke that left him blind in one eye, developed macular degeneration, worked through knee surgery, and lost his wife of 54 years. And yet he never stopped inviting his friends over for steak, and they never stopped wanting to go. For those who knew him, his house was the place to be. Though alive before even television was invented, he learned to surf the internet, download pictures, and master word processors, all while legally blind. He bridged the generation gap and was friends with people of all ages, from all walks of life. He continued to golf, talk of flying, and make people laugh. And just a week before his body gave out for good, it was no surprise that he was talking to his nurses about the 100 hours he flew in Long Beach and Jacksonville. Six months before he died, when asked in an interview what lesson he would like to pass on to his posterity, he said simply:"Get along with people. I always tried not to offend anyone." Those who knew him know he succeeded. He will be greatly missed. A Memorial Service following cremation will be held in Socorro, NM, his home of 38 years. The service will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 22, 2002, at the LDS chapel, El Camino Real, Socorro, NM. The family is grateful for the loving care given to LeRoy by Sandia Hospice nurses and staff. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Animal Protective Association of Socorro, P.O. Box 451, Socorro, NM 87801, or the charity of one's choice.
        Published on: Sun June 16, 2002