Claudia Gail Riggin Bishop

SCOTTSDALE – Claudia Gail Riggin Bishop, of Scottsdale, Arizona, died November 18, 2019 following an extended illness.

Gail was born July 17, 1935 in Topeka, Kansas, the eldest daughter of Lloyd and Beatrice Riggin. She was a 1953 graduate of Topeka High School, received her undergraduate degree from Washburn University, and pursued a Master’s at KU. She married William P. Bishop on May 12, 1961.

In the 1960s Gail was food editor for the Topeka Daily Capital and later editor of the Skylark in Colorado. She volunteered for the Rocky Mountain Park Service, and for the Phoenix Zoo for over 28 years. Her interests included photography, Tai Chi, dance, and palmistry. She and her husband, Bill Bishop, owned an antique shop and gallery in Scottsdale from 1969-2019. For most of those years they also operated a summer location in Allenspark, Colorado.

Gail was preceded in death by her husband William “Bill” P. Bishop, parents Lloyd and Beatrice (Patrick) Riggin, sister Barbara Sipes, sister-in-law Nancy (Bishop) Flickinger, brother-in-law LeRoy Flickinger, and nephews-in-law Ben Crosland and Phillip Fleming. Gail is survived by her brotherin-law John Bishop (Marge), Atchison; nephews Rick Flickinger (Janet), Topeka; David Bishop (Jennifer), Greenwood, MO; nieces Heidi Crosland, Carbondale; Susan Hack (Phil), Topeka; Sally Snell (Michael), Lawrence; Maria Fleming, Lee’s Summit, MO; and many great-nieces and nephews.

There will be no public service.