Road Superintendent Larry Bishop of the Cole County Public Works Department is among the men who put their personal lives on hold at a moment's notice to make sure everyone else can go on uninhibited through dangerous road conditions.
Public Works Director Larry Benz said Bishop is a reliable, hard-working superintendent who is ready and willing to take on whatever challenges confront the department, such as getting out of bed at night and coordinating plow trucks to get ambulances and fire trucks to emergencies.
"Since Larry Benz has been director, we've done a lot with the ambulance and fire service," Bishop said. "If they have a medical or fire call, whatever truck we have on that route or in that area we make sure the roads are where they can get through it. It may not be perfect, but we get them in and out so they can get the people transported to the hospitals."
The road superintendent credits his family for understanding his call to duty, sacrificing time with loved ones throughout almost 39 years with the department to keep the public safe and mobile.
When his long career finally comes to an end, Bishop looks forward to making up for as much lost time with his family as possible in retirement. In the past few years, he and his wife Kathi's family has expanded to include their grandson, Brees, 3, and infant granddaughter, Baylor. They are the children of his son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Tarra Bishop. Larry and Kathi also have a daughter, Stephanie Bishop, who works in Chicago.
"I missed a lot of things for my job over the years, and (my family has) always been understanding and supportive," Bishop said. "I couldn't have done it without them."
Bishop followed his own father's more than 20 years on the Public Works crew, going to work shortly after graduating from Russellville High School in 1977.
When Bishop first started, he spent many winter nights in the back of a truck, shoveling salt onto the streets as they drove through sleet and snow. Fortunately for newer employees, the department's trucks have since been equipped with salt spreaders, so nobody has to ride in the back.
"The new guys probably get tired of hearing us old-timers talk about the old days shoveling salt in the cold," Bishop said.
While Bishop has faced winter storms to keep traffic moving the next morning, he said it is the little things that are the most rewarding. Although small projects like fixing a curb and tidying up the front yard are standard practice, they are the efforts residents most often appreciate.
"A lot of times - and I even tell my guys this - the little things you do is what people remember the most. It's not really the big projects," Bishop said. "It's the little things when you go out and fix a curb in front of someone's house that they remember. They are really happy about it. You'd have thought you'd give them a million bucks, and it's not that big of a project but that type of thing is what they see and what they remember the most - how well you leave the project when you're done."