Joan Draper Bishop, age 87, of Helena

Joan Draper Bishop

(July 14, 1938 – July 20, 2025)

Joan passed away peacefully at her home in Helena a few days after her 87^th birthday. She was comfortable and surrounded by family. Her room was filled with photos and memories, flowers, and a lot of love from her children (and their dogs), grandchildren, friends, neighbors, and caregivers. It was a testament to a life well lived.

Joan came from a family with deep roots and history in California, particularly the Bay Area. She was born and raised on Filbert Street in the heart of San Francisco. This is where many of her fondest and early memories were made. Later the family moved to the corner of Walnut and Pacific where she had a corner room overlooking the Presidio. The new house had more room and a better view but Joan always missed the old neighborhood kids from Filbert.

Joan attended Burke’s, an all-girls school in the city and often rode the trolleys to and from school. Her formative years were spent in the busy streets, fog, and hills of San Francisco. The family also had a small cottage in Bolinas where Joan spent much of her summer months and weekends.

Bolinas was where a young Joan developed her love for the natural world and birds, in particular. Armed with her first Peterson Birde Guide and a Brownie box camera, Joan explored the seashore and lagoons in Bolinas looking for cormorants, plovers, turnstones, oystercatchers, pelicans, and egrets. She also rescued oiled California Murres and cleaned them in the family bathtub.

Joan’s interest in birds would become a lifelong passion and something she would cherish to the very end. Joan’s “natural habitat” was either on a beach crawling and sneaking up on sand pipers, willets, and plovers or paddling Montana’s Placid Lake and tall cattails in her poke boat trying to photograph the resident pair of loons, herons, swans, or grebes. Many of her images made it onto greeting cards for friends and family. In her later years, Joan was content watching grossbeaks, crossbills, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and finches drawn to her birdfeeders from the comfort of her home. The names of specific bird species never evaded her.

For college, Joan stayed close to home and attended UC Berkley just across the Bay. It was there that she met the love of her life – Don Bishop. After college, Joan would join Don in Montreal, Canada where she taught school while he finished his medical studies. They would later move to Philadelphia where Don completed his residency. Joan also joined Don in Korat, Thailand, where he was stationed at a medical clinic during the Vietnam War. Even though spouses were technically not allowed, Joan wouldn’t have it and insisted on going. That was her way.

In later years, Joan and Don would share their love of travel and learning about and experiencing other cultures – Cambodia, India, Europe, China, Iran, and Ecuador (where their daughter taught school). Joan and Don would enjoy over 60 years together and remain inseparable until his passing in February 2023.

In 1972 the family moved to Helena, Montana to embark on new adventures, which Joan embraced. She learned to ski, took up fly-fishing, and loved to float and canoe Montana’s rivers. The family also made it a priority to return to California every summer, usually by renting a beach house in Orange County. Joan would often don a white bathing cap (despite protestations from her kids) and swim out beyond the largest waves and float amongst the rise-and-fall of the incoming swells. She was content doing her own thing.

In Helena, Joan took an interest in Montana history and often engaged in research projects and contributed articles – usually on women’s history – for Montana Magazine. Throughout her life Joan was also a voracious reader and a strong advocate for public libraries. On road trips, she would make it a priority to stop and tour local public libraries and ask probative questions about funding, budgets, and interlibrary loans. She was quietly building a wealth of knowledge that she would later apply at home in her efforts to make the Lewis and Clark Library in Helena the best it could be. She worked hard to pass mill levies and bonds for the library, served on its Board of Directors, and enjoyed leading book groups. UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library was also a special place for her and an institution she insisted on supporting after her passing (which she and Don did).

In Joan’s home, there is an art piece depicting a bird in a white bathing cap. The image comes close to capturing a lot about her. A true original – curious, adventurous, independent, and elegant, even in a bathing cap!

Joan is survived by her eldest son Colin, her daughter Sara and son-in-law Doug Peterson, and youngest son Matthew Bishop and daughter-in-law Kristin Bishop. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Owen, Liv, and Lewis Peterson, Evan Bishop, and Willa and Hazel Bishop.

The family would like to thank Diane Gilbert for her compassionate and loving care of our mom over this past year. The family would also like to thank Carrissa Taylor and Michelle Norman from Headwaters Hospice for their timely, loving, and exceptional care during a difficult time. They would also like to thank the community and Joan’s friends for all the condolences, nice cards, and loving support.

A service for Joan is being planned for this winter in Helena. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Montana Audubon Society or Lewis and Clark Library.

Service Schedule

Services are pending at this time or no services will be held. If available, please see obituary for more information.

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