Bishops Part 1

 Bishops (2017: Begun in 2017, last known circa November)

If you have never known a bishop I can tell you about a few.

And if you question off the bat why you should care in the first place, or why it should matter to anyone to know about bishops, according to some of my interpretations,  allow me to inform you that there are those who posit faith in the order of a divine priesthood which these bishops possess, even to indicate that not only is God paying attention and is good because of them, their existence and presence, but that God directs earthly servants for His own gracious purposes, and does much of His works through these individuals. More indications of a harder to know unseen power for good, that is what makes many wonder.And is worth contemplation and investigation.

If that is not compelling enough, then keep reading and maybe consider something new all the same. This may prove nothing but the escaping or ethereal memories of yesteryear.

God is mysterious and so His servants can be. Worth investigating, anyway. Perhaps there are clues of goodness in these people, their thoughts and deeds.

On a secular humanistic scale, it does provide a metric of some sorts of how things work organizationally, both in sociology and psychology. Social science, at a minimum.

Many of you know a good share of these men, who are all male, (albeit most have wives, who "complete" their position and status); that is part of the tale; I know far more of you who might read this post and not have met any bishops, living or dead. Nor their wives or children, which again, is part of the story. Now I will regale you with a few stories and descriptions of the ones that I have known and observed.

A few things that I realize over the years, now in 2017, having known my share of bishops since at least the early 1970s, is that not only do the individual bishops vary in their personality and styles, but the constituent's (the ward members under the stewardship of the bishop) time and station in life also predicates much of the interaction or feel for each of the people appointed to that calling.

That is certainly the case for me, the situation and circumstances I found myself in while these brethren were my bishops changed my impressions and memories of them. A bishop to a ward member at age 12 is different than when 21, or when 33 or even 44.

Throughout my life I have various amounts of memories, impressions, and comments about the different bishops that I have known and known me, which can be an informative survey of both how the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is composed, and be a more personal look into who we are as well, as members, humans, fellow participants of a world of faith and doubt, religion and secularism.

1)    1.       Bishop Wright: My earliest memories of the first bishop of memory is this brother.
;     I don't know his first name, I have few scant thoughts about him, a couple specific ones.
      For starters, without any direct comment on him, but the surroundings and culture knowing how things usually would work in my hometown, Bishop Wright was probably a student who was from the Inter-mountain West who was in Bloomington with his wife and family in order to get a graduate degree from Indiana University.  He was more likely a doctoral candidate than a two year Business major or obtaining a law degree,  so that the Indianapolis Stake at the time could use him for at least 3-4 years, maybe 5.
            The only two things that I recall from my years of childhood about Bishop Wright is his appearance, and a small recollection. He had a rounded face, (that some could interpret as full or fat), he seemed to be bald or balding, darker hair, and I believe he wore rather thick glasses. And he seemed to be tall, but at age 3 or 5 or whatever I was, all adults are tall.
    The other more distinct memory of Bishop Wright was that one Sunday after Church we kids were behind a door near the bishop's office, and a small daughter of the bishop was upset that we held the door closed to her, and she exclaimed, "You better let me in or I am going to tell my dad, and he is the Bishop, and he can get you in trouble!" That was the first time that I had heard or perhaps contemplated the authority of the bishop as something to be wielded as a power of discipline or correction. This was a false doctrine, in some ways, but in some ways she was hinting at a truth that had some validity. Bishops did have power. My first lesson, or at least one that I recall, about bishops. (And their kids!)

2)      2. Bishop Hansen: I do not have  a lot of memories of Bishop Hansen, perhaps more of his wife and his house.

3)     3. Bishop Wankier

4)     4. Bishop Samuelsen

5)      5. Bishop Peterson

7-12) Chile (5)

13) Bishop Morley

14)BYU-Helaman Halls

15)BYU—Deseret Towers

16)BYU—Centennial

17) Chillan—Bishop Bizama

18) BYU--- Heritage Halls

19) BYU—Language Housing

20) Bishop Jerusalem

21) BYU—Bishop French and Italian

22) BYU—Anderson Apartments

23) BYU—Same as before

24) Branch President Allen

25) Branch President McLean

26) Bishop Frost

27) Bishop Wright (LA)

28) Presidente Orellena

29) Presidente Miranda

30) President Clinch

31) Bishop Diaz

32) Bishop Belmont Ridge

33) Bishop Brambleton

34) Bishop/BP Ft. Leonard Wood

35) Bishop Gental

36) Group Leader Elder Arizona (4 plus months)

37) Bishop Shimazaki

38) Group Leader Major David

39) Group Leader near International Airport (3 months)

40) Bishop Thomas