10" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

Grandfather

This is a painting of my grandfather, Sam Bishop, working in South Dakota during World War II. During World War II, many of the men working on farms in the Midwest U.S. were drafted. That left a shortage of help and few farm workers. Upon hearing that a farmer named John Houtkooper in Corsica, SD, needed help, two men (including my grandfather) from Conehatta, MS, answered the call. They took a train from Conehatta to Corsica and were hired by Houtkooper to harvest wheat and take care of the farm animals. 

There is much more to the story: these two families, the Houtkoopers and the Bishops, stayed in touch even after Sam returned home to Conehatta. Their children became pen pals. The full story was published in the Northside Sun newspaper on April 26, 2007 on page 11. Check it out if you have a subscription to the newspaper.