Velda I. Bishop, 95, passed away January 17, 2024 at New Underwood, South Dakota.

It was said that Velda came into this world Special Delivery born in the back of the Creighton Post Office on November 28, 1928, at Creighton, SD to Kathrine C. Barton and William R. Barton. At just three and half pounds, Velda was the smallest live birth in SD at the time. She lived her early years on a homestead in Pleasant Valley on Pilger Mountain in the southern Black Hills, Custer County SD. She completed eighth grade in Custer, SD where she worked as the only papergirlin the Black Hills. Moving to Provo in 1941, she worked on the Black Hills Ordinance Depot at Igloo, SD as a barber, cutting the hair of Italian POWs during her high school years. In 1943 she met the love of her life, William R. Bishop and they were married on December 24, 1945. The couple had three sons, Daniel Eugene born in 1947, Daryl Allen born in 1950, and William R., Jr., born in 1953. In 1953, the couple bought the Newsy Nook Grocery in Provo, SD where Velda worked with Bill's father, Ross L. Bishop while Bill worked in the uranium mines north of Edgemont. In 1959, the family moved to Rapid City. Bill returned to Civil Service at the Rapid City Post Office. Velda, after working at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Baken Park for many years, went to work for Modern Woodmen of America, becoming one of the first women to be licensed as an insurance agent in the country. She held her license as an active agent until age 87, becoming one of the company's oldest and most successful agents.

Velda was preceded in death by her parents, her two brothers, Harold and John, and her husband, Bill, who passed away in 2009 at age 85; William R. Bishop, Jr. and his wife, Izumi, Tokyo, Japan and grandchild Sophiana Bishop, Tokyo, Japan who lost their lives in a tragic attack in Japan 2022.

Surviving are her two sons, Daniel E. Bishop and his wife, Marilyn, Portland, OR; Daryl A. Bishop and his wife, Linda, Rapid City; and two grandchildren, Monicamay Bishop, Tokyo, Japan; and Matthew Ross Bishop, Eugene, OR.

Services will be at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home with visitation beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Burial will follow at 12:30 p.m. at Black Hills National Cemetery.