Bishop’s Funeral Home Ltd. has been providing dedicated service to the residents of Fredericton, New Brunswick and it’s surrounding areas for over fifty years. The founder, Clowes Bishop, was a graduate of the Arnprior, Ontario police college and Fredericton’s first city detective. He left the police force in 1964 to start his funeral home at the suggestion of funeral director Fraser Flewelling of Nackawic, New Brunswick. (Clowes raced a standard bred horse owned by Fraser for many years) Son Gerald joined his father in 1965 and they operated a successful business from that time until his passing in 2005. Gerald’s other accomplishments included over twenty years service on the licensing board of the New Brunswick Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association (serving five four-year terms), successful announcer at horse races and charity auctions and membership in the New Brunswick Horsemen’s Association and Fredericton Chamber of Commerce.
Gerald, after a brave battle with cancer, passed away on August 18, 2005 at the age of 64. Two months later, his father, Clowes passed away on October 17, 2005 at the age of 87. He also had battled cancer.
Gerald’s son, Jim Bishop came to work with his father in 1989 and took over operation and ownership in 2005. Jim was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is a third-generation funeral director in his independent, family owned, funeral home. Since then, he has been a member of the New Brunswick Funeral Directors Association, having served three terms as president. He was a past board member representing New Brunswick for the Canadian Independent Group of Funeral Homes. He was a government appointed board member on the New Brunswick Provincial Regulatory Board of Funeral Director’s and Embalmers for a four-year term. Bishop’s Funeral Home has been a member of the Funeral Service Association of Canada (FSAC) for a number of years and Jim recently finished as a board member, representing NB since 2013. Jim was the Government Relations Committee chairman for FSAC. In 2016 he was voted to the executive of FSAC and had been entrusted with the roles of Treasurer and Vice-President of the association. During his time with FSAC, Jim was able to assist in the revamping of the organization after some unfortunate circumstances. His work with the board has been dedicated and rewarding in terms of progress.
Within the Government Relations committee, Jim was able to lobby government on numerous occasions, representing the FSAC membership on a number of issues pertaining to the benefit of the public and the funeral profession. Some of the victories during this period have been Jim’s testimonial on behalf of the funeral profession at a senate hearing committee in support of Bill C-247 which consolidates all the reporting agencies a family would have to deal with in executing a loved one’s estate. This bill then received 3 readings and royal assent in record time. To follow up on the success of the Last Post Fund increase a few years ago, the prebudget submission requesting a change in the means testing amount was accepted by the federal government, and the result is more families being able to qualify for funding for a veteran’s funeral services. Most recently, through lobbying efforts and prebudget submissions, more funds will be available to qualifying applicants through the death benefit.
His passion for the commitment involved in representing New Brunswick and Canada on a national platform has been something he was very proud of. Employees with the funeral home include Chuck Cole (since 1997), Eric Ouellette (since 2006), Darrell Shannon (2018), and Chris McQuade (since 2019).
