This July 14, 2020 photo shows Ralph Bishop, who has since died, being reunited with a 1934 pumper fire truck at the Brookdale Senior Living Community. The Park Ridge Historical Society acquired the truck and brought it to Brookdale for a reunion with Bishop, who once drove the truck in the 1950s. (Brian O'Mahoney/Pioneer Press) (Brian OMahoney / Pioneer Press)

Ralph Bishop won’t be on hand to serve as Grand Marshal in Park Ridge’s 2022 Memorial Day Parade.

But his spirit, in the form of the 1934“Lil’ Pirsch” fire truck, will loudly announce its presence with Bishop’s daughter at the wheel.

A longtime firefighter in Park Ridge, Bishop died at 93 on Dec. 31, 2020. According to family and friends, he was justly proud of “Lil’ Pirsch,” the nickname of the fire truck that he drove on calls back in the day, then later shepherded on local parades.

“It’s a special situation where the Grand Marshal is posthumous,” said Brian Lazzaro, vice president of the Park Ridge Historical Society. “But Ralph was a special person. It’s a special accommodation for Ralph and people who knew him.”

Making its Park Ridge official comeback, the vintage truck spent decades with the Memphis (Tennessee) Fire Department, according to Lazzaro. The Park Ridge Historical Society reacquired the trusty pumper and reunited the vehicle in July 2020 with an overjoyed Bishop six months before his passing. The Memorial Day parade, revived after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, was the perfect public occasion to show off the truck.

“Lil’ Pirsch,” which even at its 1934 debut contained some parts from a 1921 Park Ridge fire truck, is not road-worthy at the moment, as mechanics restore engine parts, Lazzaro said. The carburetor is in pieces while supply-chain issues hold up delivery of replacement parts. But its siren has been repaired. So the historical society has arranged for the fire truck to be towed on a flatbed with Bishop’s daughter Diane Hussey in the driver’s seat, her father’s old helmets along for the ride and World War II medals of brother Emmett Bishop displayed by Boy Scouts walking just behind the vehicle.

“It is a big deal that our truck will be back in the Park Ridge parade after decades,” said Lazzaro. “For most people in town, it will be the first time they see the truck in person. It feels great to be able to say ‘in person’ again. It has been the goal of the historical society to bring this truck back home for all of the kids and families to see.”

Since “Lil’ Pirsch” was detached to Memphis in the 1980s, Bishop’s goal was to bring the truck back.

“My dad’s passion became Brian’s passion,” Diane Hussey said. “My dad got to see the truck in July, and he passed away New Year’s Eve. It was the happiest that he looked in years. He looked like a little kid.”

Added Lazzaro: “(Ralph) ... put his walker aside and climbed right up into the truck.”

Hussey looks forward to getting into the driver’s seat as a Lin-Mar flatbed truck tows “Lil Pirsch” around Park Ridge.

“It brings out the kid in me,” said Hussey, who vows to drive the truck under its own power when it is fully restored. The Historical Society is continuing a fundraising campaign to complete the restoration at ParkRidgeHIstoryCenter.org. and ParkRidgeFireTruck.com.

The siren won’t need more work. “The guy who restored it said it should be good for another 90 years,” said Lazzaro.

Bishop loved old fire trucks, Hussey said.

This photo from May 30, 1951, shows Ralph R. Bishop, at left, and his father, Ralph E. Bishop, center, and brother Emmett T. Bishop at right, a firefighter family. It was taken in front of the elder Bishop's then-home at 404 S. Greenwood, Park Ridge. - Original Credit: (Bishop family / HANDOUT)

“He owned three trucks, and they were hand-built,” she said. “There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. He was a skilled machinist. He had a 1923 Model T truck nicknamed Little Squirt, and almost nobody could drive it. It had no gas pedal. The throttle was on the steering wheel.”

The histories of Bishop and “Lil’ Pirsch” are almost parallel.

Bishop hired on as Park Ridge’s sixth paid firefighter on July 1, 1950, driving Lil’ Pirsch his first day on the job. His brother Emmett and father Ralph E. Bishop – who was fire chief for four years — along with two uncles in the early 1900s all served the department as volunteers.

Hussey said her father almost quit firefighting in his first year on the job after witnessing the aftermath of a train-car collision with a mother and her two young daughters as victims. Instead, he became an advocate for fire prevention and stayed on for 28 years, retiring in 1978.

Emmett Bishop served in the 33rd Division,108th Combat Engineer Battalion from 1942 until the World War II ended in 1945. His unit was assigned to the South Pacific area — New Guinea, the western Pacific, and Luzon in the Philippines.

He received the Bronze Star for meritorious service in action against the Japanese on Northern Luzon from February through May 1945. He also received a Victory Medal, Asia Pacific Theatre Ribbon, Philippines Liberation Ribbon, four Overseas Bars, a Service Stripe, a Good Conduct Medal and a Meritorious Unit Award.