Fourteenth Regent (1990-1993)
Mabel Livingstone was born in Portland, Oregon, and attended Reed College in that city before graduating from Simmons College in Boston. In 1947 she married Clarence Morton Bishop, Jr., who became president of the Oregon-based, family-owned Pendleton Woolen Mills. He died in 2007.
Past Regents
Mount Vernon's Past Regents
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association's Regent serves as the head of the board. Each woman is action-oriented and works to preserve and restore George Washington's Mount Vernon.
Vice Regent for Oregon
Elected Vice Regent for Oregon in 1976, she chaired the Gardens and Grounds Committee and the planning committee for the yearlong 1989 bicentennial celebration of George Washington’s first presidential inauguration. This endeavor included offering several educational programs and organizing such special events as a reenactment of Washington’s journey from Mount Vernon to New York and a nationwide ringing of church bells honoring the Father of Our Country.
In 1982, early in the capital campaign initiated during the tenure of Mrs. Guy, Mrs. Bishop spearheaded an unusual fund-raiser. To mark the opening of the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Columbia River to link Portland and Vancouver, Washington, she convinced some of her fellow patriots to pledge $1,000 apiece in support of the campaign and walk the full 11,500-foot span. Despite high winds and driving rain on the day of the event, 30 people participated.
Mrs. Bishop meets with First Lady Barbara Bush, and Russian First Lady Naina Yeltsina. MVLA.
Regent
Mrs. Bishop was elected Regent in April 1990. The first woman from a West Coast state to hold the office, she led the Association from her Portland home—across the continent from Mount Vernon. Fax machines, a special phone line, and frequent plane flights to Virginia enabled her to maintain the same high level of communication and service as her predecessors.
As Regent, Mrs. Bishop launched a campaign to restore Mount Vernon’s historic wharf. She led the people of her home state to contribute more than $200,000 toward this ambitious project, which included asbestos removal and the installation of a new roof. On May 16, 1991, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the estate to dedicate the rehabilitated wharf. Mrs. Bishop died on March 10, 2007. Her will provided for the continued upkeep of the wharf as well as funds that would help Oregon schoolteachers attend the George Washington Teachers’ Institutes, a weeklong program of lectures, study, and discussions held each summer at Mount Vernon.
The reroofing of the Mansion in 1993. MVLA.
George Washington Teacher Institute
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