RIDGECREST, CALIF.
Elizabeth (Beth) Richman Heflin Bisping passed away February 5, 2018 in Ridgecrest, California, after a short illness. She was 88 years old.
She was the daughter of the late Judge Frank Nelson Richman and Edith Rogers Richman, and was born in Columbus, Indiana on March 13, 1929.
Her brother, Philip Richman, and sisters, Margaret Coons and Frances Johnson, predeceased her.
She is survived by her three sons, Tim Heflin of Kennedy Meadows, California, Bruce Heflin of Needles, California and Matt Heflin of Kernville, California; grandsons, Samuel Heflin of Boise, Idaho, Benjamin Heflin of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho and Jacob Heflin of Cypress, California; and one great-granddaughter.
Beth was born in the Richman house built in 1922 as the second residence in the Riverside Addition in Columbus.
Several years ago, Beth wrote in her remembrances of growing up in Columbus: “My favorite memory is probably of sledding down the hill in the winter. Then we would come in and go to the basement where we would shed our wet snow-pants and jackets. Mother would bring us down hot chocolate. Growing up in Columbus was a great experience. The Foundation for Youth got its start. My friends and I attended the Youth Camp from its first year.”
She is also survived by her niece, Judy Ruby-Brown of Coppell, Texas, and nephews, Stephen Coons and Philip Coons of Indianapolis, John Richman of Chestertown, Maryland, and Gregory Johnson of Boulder, Colorado; and many grandnieces and grandnephews.
She was married August 13, 1950, to the late John Heflin, who passed away in 1994.
Elizabeth was a teacher in the Indianapolis Public Schools commencing in 1950, in the West Covina, California school system, then as a school psychologist at the Laverne School District near Los Angeles and later in the Sierra Sands School District near Inyokern, California, until 2004.
Beth also served the Lake Isabella and Weldon school districts.
She served the Paiute Indian Reservation as a school psychologist, retiring in 2009 after a teaching career spanning almost 60 years.
Beth was a free spirit and an avid outdoors adventurer. To celebrate her 54th birthday, she climbed Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, at an elevation of 14,505 feet.
Beth was widely traveled, living in Nuremberg, Germany in 1946-1947 when her father was a judge at the Nuremberg trials.
Beth graduated from the Columbus High School in 1946 when she was 16. She was a graduate of Indiana University in 1950 where she was a member of Delta Gamma fraternity. She earned her master’s degree in education at California State University, Los Angeles, in 1966.
A memorial service will be held in the spring at Kennedy Meadows, California where Beth and her late husband, John, lived for many years.
