Dolly Mulder

Delora Jane was born in 1926, the seventh child in a family of nine in Muskegon to Fred and Winnie (Drewes) Bishop. Shortly after her birth her older brothers gave Delora the nickname of Dolly. Her childhood memories are filled with stories of her siblings, playing with younger brother Bob and sister Mickey but particularly with brothers Pete and Hank, both of whom seemed to delight in playing practical jokes and having an altogether good time. Her mother Winnie seemed to enjoy these jokes and games. She remembered her childhood as a happy time, full of laughter and fun. Dolly was a quiet child with a hearing problem, and her older brothers took protective care of her. When she started school she needed special attention, needing to sit near the front of the class in order to hear the teacher. In 2nd grade someone discovered that her hearing problem was due to a blockage or buildup of wax in her ears – once that was removed she could hear normally.

Dolly grew up during the depression and the family struggled financially, such as not having enough boots for all of them to play outside at the same time. Winnie had to make meals to stretch to feed a family of 11, but she still gave food to people who came to the door. Although he worked in manufacturing during most of his life, Fred Bishop wanted to be a farmer like his father and at one point he bought some land in North Muskegon and the family moved out by the land to grow celery. Dolly recalled Sunday afternoon drives to the celery farm to check on the temperature in the greenhouses.

Growing up, Dolly loved to read, a love that stayed with her throughout her life. Dolly enjoyed school at Muskegon Christian and would have liked to become a teacher. However, her dad said that she had to leave school after 10th grade, like all of her older siblings, to get a job to contribute to the family’s earnings. She returned to school later in life, getting her GED in 1980.

When she left school after 10th grade Dolly worked at a dime store, handling glassware, which started her lifelong love of glassware. Consistent with family practice, Dolly turned her entire paycheck over to father and he then gave her $5.00 per week spending money, up until she was married. During the war she worked at a wire manufacturing plant, but lost that job when the men came back from the war and needed jobs.

Although they had attended grade school and high school together, Dolly didn’t start dating Marv Mulder until after he got back from the army, when he asked her out at a rollerskating rink. Marv gave Dolly a diamond engagement ring at Christmas in 1948. They were married on June 3, 1949 and they honeymooned in Niagara Falls.

Their kids were born: Marcia 6/11/50, Judy 10/12/51, Jack 4/14/54 and Connie 10/19/56. Dolly had a miscarriage due to the flu with another child, Bonnie, in 1952 or 53. Marv’s diabetes, discovered early in their marriage, while Dolly was pregnant with Marcia, was a major factor in Dolly’s life, as everyday she worried about his blood sugar.

For a time after their marriage the family lived with her parents, Fred and Winnie lived upstairs and Dolly and Marv lived on the bottom floor. Later they moved to in a new house in Fortenbacher subdivision in Muskegon. At one point, Dolly had 4 children under the age of 6, with no car at home during the day. When Marv was transferred, the family moved from Muskegon to a new house on Fuller Street in Grand Rapids in 1959. Dolly’s sister, Harriet and Ray Israels already lived in Grand Rapids, which made the move easier. As the family grew, Dolly and Marv took the kids on a variety of trips, as well as renting cottages on lakes in the summer. Dolly will always be famous among her kids for jumping into a car (and locking the doors) when a bear appeared at their campsite. The problem? The kids were still outside! Dolly was a great seamstress, was a 4-H leader and taught her daughters to sew, something Marcia learned well.

After moving to Grand Rapids, Dolly started to work part-time, first in a dime store and later at a wholesale company that stocked items for dime stores. She insisted that she had summers off to be with her kids. When Dolly and Marv started Mulder’s Merchants they both worked all day and most evenings doing work for the vending company – be it stapling tags on candy bars or counting money or doing bookkeeping. In her 40s and 50s, Dolly started collecting antique glassware and later she and Marv would go on weekend trips to flea markets and garage sales. Dolly continued to work for Mulder’s even after Marv died when Marcia and Connie owned the company, until late into her 70s.

After Marv died from cancer at the age of 60, Dolly stayed busy working, taking care of grandkids and traveling with Jean Verstrate (now Bosma) and other friends. She bought a trailer up at Sand Lake where she spent part of every summer. She really enjoyed being a grandmother to her 7 grandkids: Nate, Elizabeth, Andrea, Jack Jr., Kelli, Ryan and Cindy. Every New Year’s Eve the grandkids would have a party at her house, staying awake as long as they could to see in the New Year. For a couple of years, Dolly went to Arizona in the winter with Jean; once they drove from Arizona to Southern California to see her brother Bob.

Dolly was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at age 66. For a time the arthritis was not a huge factor in her life, but she eventually developed continual pain and disability from arthritis. She moved to Christian Rest Home around the age of 81 where she built many new relationships. She died there on Dec 18, 2014.