By Mary O’KEEFE

When Kimberly Bishop retired from her role as principal of La Crescenta Elementary School in 2014, she was looking forward to new adventures. Those adventures included enjoying time with her husband at their vacation home in Hawaii until Tuesday when a normal day in the beautiful South Seas ended with her being evacuated by air to the hospital after a shark bite.

“My husband does stand-up paddling and I do kayaking,” Bishop said in an interview with CVW on Wednesday.

The water was beautiful on Tuesday, Bishop said. “You could see all the way to the bottom. I was taking pictures.”

She was leaning over the kayak as she took photos.

“I felt a huge bump to the boat [kayak]. I knew immediately what is was,” she said. “My [kayak] flipped over and I went into the water, and I felt a chomp onto my leg, and I was pulled under.”

Bishop said she knew it was a shark from the beginning, and knew she had to get back onto the kayak. She began yelling, “shark” and her husband was paddling over to her.

“I was pulling myself onto the [overturned] boat. I pulled my torso up but my legs were in the water,” she said. “I went back into the water and flipped the boat back.”

By this time her husband had reached her and was helping her flip the kayak and stabilize it as she got in. At first, he didn’t think she had been hurt because her legs were not exposed.

“But I said ‘no, I have been bitten’,” she said.

There was an outrigger canoe crew nearby which began to paddle toward her. Bishop was able to get assistance from them.

“They had me hold onto the outrigger and we booked it in [to the shore],” she said.

Her husband called emergency responders and paramedics were waiting on the shore. Bishop did not have her phone.

“That’s one of the first decisions I made, I let go of my phone,” she said.

The decision was made to helicopter her to the hospital, where she underwent surgery for her injuries.

Both Bishop and her husband are on the ocean a lot and know the area well. Her husband, a geologist, also saw the dorsal fin and tail of the shark, and both are pretty certain it was a Tiger Shark that attacked.

Now Bishop, who was still in the hospital on Wednesday, said she is recovering and is not on any pain medication.

She credited the quick response of her husband, the outrigger crew, paramedics and all who helped her on the beach and in the hospital for her recovery.

“Thank God I had presence of mind and stayed calm,” she said.

She wanted to share a message to the parents and students of La Crescenta Elementary, and alums who were at the school when she was principal.

“I want to tell my kids, the one thing you want to do in an emergency is to stay calm,” she said.

The positive attitude she was known for during her 40 years as an educator continues in her retirement.

“Things happen in life, you move forward. You don’t want to stop living your life,” she said.

This matches her life lessons she shared with her students.

“She said it was okay if we are afraid,” said former La Crescenta Elementary student Ian Boors, during Bishop’s 2014 retirement celebration. He was speaking of her advice as he made his way to middle school but this ideal seems to still resonate within Bishop today.

She does not plan to let this incident keep her out of the water. She and her husband plan on continuing their water sports but maybe not right away. She estimates she will be in the hospital for a few more days and probably won’t be getting into the water before she and her husband fly home to Glendale.

For now, she is happy the shark attack was not worse, grateful that everyone including herself remained calm during the incident and that she is healing well.

“Life is a good thing,” she said.

Bishop took the reins as principal of LCE nine years ago. She has been in the field of education for 40 years, 20 of them as principal. Prior to becoming principal at La Crescenta she served in that capacity at Horace Mann Elementary in Glendale.

After working four decades in education, it would be difficult for Bishop to simply walk away, so she plans to continue working as a consultant.

  Mary Okeefe