Getting to know your neighbor: Frank Bishop

Name: Frank Bishop

Hometown: Russellville

Place of employment: Manager at Isbell Water System; manager at Rockwood Water Authority; and owner/broker at Frank Bishop Real Estate.

Q: What is the best thing about your job?

A: Meeting a variety of people from different walks of life.

Q: If you weren’t in your current profession, what would be your ideal job and why?

A: I think it would be interesting to be involved in the movie industry, designing  and developing movie sets and figuring out how to make the special effects that make a movie stand out from other movies.

Q: If you could change places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?

A: This would be a great opportunity to experience a life you would never be able to encounter. The life of the rich, the famous, or perhaps the experience of  “ living on the edge.” But I think I would choose to exchange places with my wife so we could both experience what is it like to live with ourselves for one day.

Q: If you could sit down to dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

A: Of course my first choice would be Jesus Christ. I think I would have a lot of questions, but other than him, I think it would be interesting to have dinner with Benjamin Franklin and discuss inventions and how he came up with some of his ideas and what he thought of some of my ideas.

Q: What’s the best present you’ve ever received?

A: While I was growing up, I had the opportunity to be a part of a large family. There was never much money left over for the nonessential things in life, but my parents always had a gift for each one of us on our birthday or Christmas, so each and every gift was special. As I grew older, my senior year in high school my girlfriend, and now wife, Linda, gave me a navy blue turtle neck shirt with epaulettes on the shoulder to wear with my orange velvet bell bottom pants. Man, I was cool!

Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?

A: Most all my memories as a child were good memories. One of my earliest was the first time I figured out how to climb over the rail of my baby bed and escape. Another early memory was my third birthday, hiding under the kitchen table sneaking a peek as my mom and sister made my birthday cake. Another fond memory was when I was 6, Dad took me by the hand and we walked to the place where he planned to have our new house built. I thought it was special that he wanted to share that with me.

Q: What do you think of as your greatest accomplishment in life?

A: I would have to say my greatest accomplishment was raising my two daughters, Beth and Blaze, and realizing the kind of adults they are growing into with the drive, motivation and christian morals they display and also the accomplishments they are making in their lives.

Q: If you only had one meal left, what would it be?

A:  Wow, this is a no brainer. Homegrown turnip greens, pinto beans, fried potatoes, cracklin cornbread and a tall glass of ice cold milk. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Q: If you won a million dollars, what would be your first purchase?

A:  After paying off any debt, I would want to buy a small house on the ocean where I could peacefully watch the ships sail in and out and enjoy seeing the children playing in the sand.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

A:  I think I would enjoy traveling to Italy and seeing all the stone architecture and art as well as enjoying a gondola ride down the Grand Canal.

Q: If you were the President of the United States, what would be the first law that you would enact?

A: I would pass a law not to borrow money from China in order to give it away to the rest of the world. We should focus more on our country, our needs and take care of our citizens – the ones who foot the bill for the government’s spending.

Q: If you were in local government, what things would you change in the area?

A: I would definitely remove graffiti from the signs, buildings and bridges as soon as it is vandalized. I would try to get the concerned citizens of the town to rally together, volunteering their time and efforts to carry out beautification projects across the county to make the area more appealing. I would seek out recreation for our teens to enjoy locally and of course try to pull industry into our area to provide good paying jobs for our families.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about Franklin County?

A: We have beautiful hills, plains and lakes, but for the most part I would have to say the best thing about Franklin County is the people that live here. You hardly ever meet a stranger with most people being glad to talk to you or lend you a helping hand, no matter if you know them or not.

Q: What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?

A: I have a great imagination and enjoy writing. I would like to write a book sometime in the future. I have written a few stories for my kids and they would pitch in information about the characters and the events. It was a great accomplishment for us all when it was finished.