Minnie Slade Bishop - September, 16th 2004

Minnie Slade Bishop, mother of U.S. Representative Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D-GA) died at Providence Hospital on Thursday, September, 16th 2004, after an extended illness.

Minnie Slade Bishop was born May 15th, 1915 in East Spencer, North Carolina to John Robert and Lossie Slade. The youngest of seven children, four surviving, Minnie was baptized at an early age and was a member of the junior choir at the Shady Grove Baptist Church in East Copper, NC where her family attended every Sunday. Her father as the fireman on the Southern Railroad was a prominent member of the community.

Minnie Slade graduated from East Spencer High School and went on to receive her bachelor’s degree from Shaw University in Raleigh, NC. She had a brief career as a teacher in Ellerbe, NC where she shared a desk with Sanford D. Bishop. She soon went on to receive her master’s degree in Library Science from the Hampton Institute in Hampton, VA. From there she took a position as the assistant librarian at the public library in Evansville, IN and then later at the Arkansas State University library.

In August 1942 Minnie Slade married Sanford D. Bishop in a ceremony in Atlanta, GA. She took over as librarian at the Mobile Branch of Alabama State Teacher’s Collage in Mobile, where her husband served at Dean. The college was later renamed the Mobile State Junior Collage and then the Bishop State Junior Collage in honor of Sanford S. Bishop who oversaw it’s construction prior to her return her retirement in 1976. She was a character member of the mobile Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a member of the American Library Association and an active member of the Franklin Street Baptist Church in Mobile, AL.

In 1947, Minnie Slade Bishop and Sanford D. Bishop became the proud parents of Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., who currently represents the Second Congressional District of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Minnie Slade Bishop passed away the morning of September 16th, 2004. She is survived by her son, and her sister, Mary Slade Davis and a host of other relatives.