Harry Bishline, Jr.'s Obituary
Harry Bishline, Jr., 88, of Broken Arrow, died on Monday, November 17, 2014. Harry Bishline, Jr. was born to Betty Edna Dudgeon and Harry Bishline, Sr. on August 15, 1926 in Sand Springs, OK. At 3 months of age he moved with his family to Tulsa where he grew up, going through the Tulsa public school system there.Upon graduating from Will Rogers High School in 1944, during World War II, he enlisted in the US Navy, serving 2 years. When he was released from the Navy, he married his high school sweetheart, Gwynn Harper, and they left for college at Phillips University in Enid, OK. When they graduated from Phillips in 1950, they moved back to Tulsa.This family was joined by 2 sons, David Phillip and Carleton Bruce.During the 1950’s Harry decided to pursue one of his dreams, to teach at the university level, so he enrolled at Tulsa University, graduating in 1959 with his MBA.That fall he started teaching at Phillips University.In 1964 the family moved to Eugene, Oregon, for Harry to actively pursue his doctorate degree. It was during that year that the opportunity arose for this family to add two little girls to their circle. So in 1966 Wong Eva, age 3 and Lee Hyon Sook, age 1, were flown from Korea to the waiting family in Portland, Oregon. They became Beth and Ann to an anxiously waiting family.When Harry resumed teaching he began researching another dream, to own his own business. He decided to open a rental store in Enid. Gwynn reminded him that they had no money to start a business. He said, “We’ll borrow it.” Which he did. And he bought a lot, had a building erected on the lot and bought all new equipment to fill it. The family ran the business during the day while Harry was teaching and then he came to take it over until closing. After 3 years he sold the business.Harry began to explore another dream, to own a hardware store. In the 1970’s he found a hardware store for sale in the small town of Cleveland, OK. After the procedure of buying this store, he left teaching after 18 years and moved the family to Cleveland. He built the store into one of the leading stores in Cleveland. He finally sold the store in 1992, after 16 years of running his beloved hardware store.After the hardware store was sold Harry was really not ready to retire, so after a short stint as a salesman at Home Depot he started his own business of selling mole chasers to stores in Oklahoma, a product he imported from Japan. A couple of years later he sold that business.Finally Harry was ready to retire. He and his family spent many memorable summers in their cabin in southern Colorado.At age 78 Harry decided he wanted a motorcycle so he could ride mountain trails with his Colorado friends. So he bought a bike, took lessons on how to ride it, and enjoyed several years of riding with friends, both in Colorado and in Tulsa.A stroke at age 81 convinced him that his motorcycle riding days were over and he freely sold his motorcycle.It was at this time that Harry’s health began to decline. As Harry did at every stage of his life, he accepted the new development with grace.As his health declined there was never any complaining of his changing health. He remained the ever pragmatic, self-assured person of who he was in his knowledge of the love of family and friends around him.Harry passed from this life peacefully on November 17, 2014, surrounded by his loving family.A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, November 21, 2014, at Fellowship Christian Church, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
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