C. Don Bishop's Gain from the Motel.

Here's my grandfather, C. Don Bishop. Along with this motel being his pride, and eventual path to retirement, he had also moved the entire family to Logan in 1947, so to ensure that everyone could obtain a college education from Utah State University. As he received his Masters in Education Administration shortly afterwards, three out of four children also received at least their Bachelors degrees, ranging from English, Education, and Engineering throughout the following years.

In a greater sense, he was able to make his entire life here in Logan as a successful businessman and motel owner, all the while providing for his family. However, it never meant that he became rich off of his endeavors - but simply busy, and happy for the outcomes of his hard work. 

Take a small look at the brown car to the right of my grandfather. Could that be a trashed wedding reception vehicle?

"After we bought the place….well, everything was different. People treated us different and that wasn’t always better. I didn’t understand until years later when I found out that people thought we had purchased it for over a half-million dollars and where did we get that kind of money, anyway?? Lower-middle-class school teacher to a ‘big business owner’ overnight.  If people only knew….the actual purchase price was slightly more than half the value everyone gossiped about." - Jerold Bishop

Since Logan was an exceptionally small city during this time (and still is without question), I'm pretty sure that all work put into this operation was a matter of pride and integrity, more than anything else. Not to say that it didn't incite the speculation and jealousy of certain neighbors, regardless of the circumstances. 

When they finally sold the motel, they only received an amount slightly higher than their buying price. In full respect, they were able to make some money off of it, but not a large amount by any respect.

"The end finally came in 1970. Dad had always said he’d like to keep it seven years and then get out. He was fifty-three the year we started and we had taken it over in April of 1963. In April of 1970 Dad closed a deal with Utah State University to purchase the property. It was the best of all worlds for them (I think…they got some needed space) and us (a better buyer you could never have found). Dad didn’t get a much more than what he paid for the place originally, but it was all his now and that was the best part. That was his retirement. He and mom bought a decent home and got out of the rat race. I will never forget the day they settled the deal, when he and mom came back and told me it was over. She was the most happy I could ever remember, nearly giddy and almost crying with relief at the same time.

They let us stay for another summer and bank all the money. The easiest summer to do for us all." - Jerold Bishop