MARK WAITE / PVT Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo hands the American flag to Ed Bishop's widow Cora Bishop during the ceremony at the Bob Ruud Community Center Friday. Advertisement

Former Pahrump Town Board member Ed Bishop was eulogized as a community-minded resident since his arrival in Pahrump in 1989, during a memorial service at the Bob Ruud Community Center before a standing-room-only crowd of 160 people Friday.

"Shortly after Ed came to town he got involved in the affairs of its community. He focused on the poor, the homeless, the needy as well as our children and our seniors," Nye County Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent said in the main eulogy.

Bishop was chairman of the Service Assistance Program, a volunteer organization that raised funds and worked with charities to provide a food bank, Kent said. He also noted Bishop was a board member of Friends of the Library, an organization that was instrumental in the construction of the Pahrump Library in 2000.

The annual two-week Haunted House at the Bishop residence was a tradition for 11 years, Kent said. In the final year over 1,600 children and parents attended in one night alone. Donations went to the Service Assistance Program.

"Ed made Pahrump his home when our community was sparsely populated and services were minimal," Kent said. "Ed recognized that our rural lifestyle has sheltered our community from many of the problems which plague larger communities such as rampant crime, overcrowdinig and traffic congestion. But Ed also realized that much needed services would only come with growth."

Kent lauded Bishop for his belief in controlled growth for Pahrump -- through careful study and planning -- to preserve Pahrump's rural lifestyle and accommodate the reasonable expectations of residents.

Carol Lindberg, who served with Bishop as one of the five original members of the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission when it was formed in 1996, said, "We worked on many projects together. He was a wonderful person."

Bishop became involved with the Nye County Republican Party and began his political career working on former Nye County Treasurer Pat Foster's successful campaign in 1994. Four years later he finished first in a field of five candidates running for the Pahrump Town Board with 3,511 votes.

Bishop was elected town board chairman and was the town's liaison to the RPC.

"There were two things that weren't in his vocabulary and that was 'no' and 'quit,'" former Pahrump Town Board member Paul Willis said. "Any time anybody asked him, he'd help get it or would find a way to do it. He didn't think of himself, he thought of what he could do for everybody else."

Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky said Bishop inspired him to get into politics.

"He was always, I thought, the best town board member we ever had. I had the utmost respect for that man. He always cracked that nice, little smile every time he saw me whether he felt good or he didn't," Borasky said.

Bishop suffered a severe back injury in 1988 that affected him the rest of his life. He had to resign for medical reasons from the town board in 2000 but was appointed again by former Gov. Kenny Guinn in May 2004. Bishop finished first in the November 2004 town board race, then had to resign again in 2006.

Eventually, the moderator of the service, 5th District Judge Robert Lane, said, "If we let everybody come up here and talk that Ed was good to and helped with, we'd be here all day."

The crowd looked at a photo display of his life and dressed for the service in a Jimmy Buffett theme with Hawaiian shirts, even shorts in the chilly weather.

After the hour-long ceremony, the audience heard three of Bishop's favorite songs, including Jimmy Buffett's "A Pirate Looks at 40" and the Grateful Dead's "Truckin."