Memorial services for Sallisaw resident Dennis Wayne Bishop, 56, will be held at 2 pm Thursday, May 4, 2017 at the First Presbyterian Church in Sallisaw under the direction of Agent Mallory Martin Funeral Home in Sallisaw. Mr. Bishop died Friday, April 28, 2017 in a Ft. Smith, Arkansas hospital after a long struggle with cancer.
He was born June 8, 1960 in Van Buren, Arkansas the son of Millie Sue (Love) Bishop and Harold Dean Bishop. He married Shannon Mayo of Sallisaw on September 7, 2002.
Mr. Bishop was a former police officer and armed security officer. Friends and relatives remember him as jovial, pleasant to be around, and “a man who never met a stranger”.
These traits were demonstrated in a story he told in his later years about working one night as a security guard in a Tulsa hospital. A patient who was detained in the hospital mad an attempt to escape. Mr. Bishop was called to handle the situation.
The two men ended up in a wrestling match on the floor of a hospital corridor. They were a confusing tangle of arms and legs. Out of the corner of his eye, Mr. Bishop saw a nurse approaching with a hypodermic syringe loaded with medication to sedate the fleeing patient.
‘Be careful with that thing. There are two of us down here. I’m the one in the blue pants,” he said by way of cheerful warning.
Mr. Bishop is survived by his wife, Shannon of the home; one daughter, Sarah Yvonne Graham and her husband, Jon of Clarksville, TN; one brother, Richard Bishop and his wife, Teresa of Spokane, MO; one sister, Terry Newman and her husband, Donnie of Hobbs, NM; one sister in law, Allyn Mayo Wilson and her husband, Charles of Sallisaw, OK; one brother in law, Richard Mayo and his wife, Melanie of Sallisaw, OK; two granddaughters, Kyla Marie Adams of Savannah, TN and Emily Rose Freymoyer of Clarksville, TN; three aunts and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Also three dogs who were special to him, Quincy, Wally, and Kimmie..
Honorary Pallbearers are Billy Byrd, Steven Hudson, Dean Mills, Ronnie Beach, Richard Mayo and Charles Wilson.
Visitation with the family will be held Wednesday from 6 - 8 pm at Agent Mallory Martin Funeral Home in Sallisaw.
Memorial donation may be made to the First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 417, Sallisaw, OK 74955
