Obituaries
Peter Sorensen
Los Gatos native Peter Christian Sorensen died Feb. 13 at the age of 79, following a long illness.
As a boy, Sorensen worked in the local fruit orchards and helped his father on construction jobs building stone walls in the area. A graduate of the old University Avenue school and Los Gatos High School, Sorensen worked at Hendy Ironworks in Sunnyvale until World War II, at which time he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and served on B-24 missions in the European theater.
After the war, Sorensen attended and graduated from what was then called San Jose State College. He worked as a teacher in South San Francisco briefly, then came back to Los Gatos, where he taught industrial arts at Los Gatos High School until his 1983 retirement. His classes included woodworking, auto shop and driver's education. One of his students' projects was the rebuilding of cars for the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in Oak Meadow Park.
In 1972, Sorensen was named Teacher of the Year by the California Industrial Education Association. He was also recognized for the adult education classes he taught through the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation.
Outside of his school activities, Sorensen was known as a master craftsman for his construction of furniture and homes. In 1988, he even built a new home for his family, joined by his building contractor son, Stephen. Sorensen was also an elder and longtime member of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church.
Survivors include wife Edna Sorensen of Los Gatos; sons and daughters-in-law Stephen and Edna Sorensen of Aptos and John and Nora Sorensen of Ladera Ranch; three grandchildren; sister Marie Sorensen of Fremont; brother Rev. Thomas Sorensen of Dallas, Tex.; and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial services have been held. Donations can be made to the Organ Fund at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 15885 Los Gatos-Almaden Road, Los Gatos, 95032.
Blaine Bishop
Former Los Gatos resident Blaine David Bishop died at his Turlock home on Feb. 23. He was 89.
Bishop was born Aug. 21, 1912, in Scircleville, Ind. He met his wife, Betty, while both were attending Taylor University; they married June 14, 1935, in Toledo, Ohio. That same year, the couple served as pastors of Methodist churches in Charlottesville and Cleveland, Ind. After 15 months there, they embarked on a ministry of traveling evangelism, as they called it, through Indiana and North Dakota.
In 1939, they settled in at Calvary Church in Minot, N.D., a nondenominational congregation. During that time, Bishop joined a Baptist Church and later became an ordained minister. During the early 1940s, the Bishops served at the First Baptist Church of Tipton, Ind. In 1946, they pastored at Calvary Baptist Church in Fargo, N.D., where they remained until 1949.
The family then moved to Los Gatos, where Bishop became a pastor at Calvary Church, which at the time was a new congregation with 90 members. "Our ministry in Los Gatos continued for 29 years, and the Lord led us through six building programs and gave us 1,600 members," Bishop wrote in his memoirs.
After retiring from Calvary Church, where he remained a pastor emeritus, Bishop served as pastor-at-large and interim pastor at various churches in California, including Monte Vista Chapel in Turlock, where he taught Sunday school for senior citizens.
Bishop held an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Talbot Seminary and had visited four different continents on his many missionary trips.
Survivors include wife Betty Bishop of Turlock; daughters Ann Knight of Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Sharon Peterson of Penn Valley; sons Mark Bishop of Canyon Lake, Conn., and Lee Bishop of San Jose; also 7 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
Memorial services have been held, with interment at Turlock Memorial Park. Donations can be made to the Monte Vista Chapel Missionary Fund, P.O. Box 1006, Turlock, 95381.
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
