Friends, family remember instructor killed in Va. Tech rampage

<p>Mourners gathered Thursday at the church where Virginia Tech instructor Christopher James "Jamie" Bishop grew up to remember him as a "Renaissance man" who lived a "robust life."</p><p>Friends and family packed First United Methodist Church in this small Georgia town, filling the sanctuary and an upstairs overflow room to say goodbye to Bishop, who was one of 32 people killed in a shooting rampage on the Blacksburg, Va., campus last week.</p><p>"We ourselves are not ready to be without Jamie," said Wayne Holloway, a local pastor who has known Bishop for years. "We are not ready for this because Jamie's death slams us and leaves us as empty as we can be."</p><p>Bishop, 35, was a computer whiz, an artist and a lover of all things German. He designed the cover for at least one of the books by his father, Michael Bishop, an award-winning science fiction author.</p><p>After attending the University of Georgia, Bishop lived in Germany for several years, where he met his wife, Stefanie Hofer.</p><p>He had taught German at Virginia Tech for two years and was conducting a class on April 16 when gunman Seung-Hui Cho entered the classroom and opened fire, killing Bishop.</p><p>Police say Cho killed himself after a nine-minute rampage, during which he fired 170 rounds on the classrooms in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech. He also had shot and killed two students earlier that morning at a nearby dorm.</p><p>The funeral was the second for Bishop, after a service earlier this week in Blacksburg. First United Methodist Church officials asked that no interviews be conducted on the grounds of the church, and family requested that media not approach them.</p><p>On a Facebook.com page created as a memorial to Bishop, students posted notes about a man they called "Herr Bishop," which means "Mr. Bishop" in German.</p><p>"He made class exciting and was an inspiration to us all," wrote Derek O'Dell. "We have truly lost a great, great person."</p><p>Another student, Gregory Gannon, said Bishop's class was "one of those you looked forward to attending."</p><p>"Even if you skipped other classes that same day, you made sure you went to his," Gannon wrote. "(Herr Bishop) and my classes with him had a profound and positive impact on my life, one that I will never forget."</p><p>Another Georgian, Ryan "Stack" Clark of Martinez also was killed in the rampage. The 22-year-old was a resident adviser on the fourth floor of the West Ambler Johnston dormitory, where the shooting spree began at 7:15 a.m. His funeral was held Monday in Augusta.</p>

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