Three weeks before the motorcycle crash in Butler Township that took his life, Gabriel Bishop, 22, told his mother he hoped to be baptized in the summer.

His aunt, Sherri Mckibbin, said Bishop had started attending Sunday services at Victory Family Church in Cranberry Township about four months ago.

The churchgoing routine started when Bishop took his 14-year-old niece to a service after she had been invited by friends. Soon after, it became part of their “Sunday rhythm” to go to church together, Mckibbin said.

“He was so happy he found his faith as an adult,” Mckibbin said. “It was not the faith we try to pass on to our children. It was his own faith.”

On April 28, like any other Sunday in the past four months, Bishop, who lived in Butler, had gone to church in Cranberry, his aunt said.

Later on Sunday afternoon, Bishop had taken his motorcycle on a ride to enjoy the weather.

Bishop was fairly new to riding motorcycles, Mckibbin said, and had spent months researching safety and saving up to purchase one.

He had purchased safety gear and signed up for a motorcycle class, she said.

“He was so proud of that bike,” Mckibbin said.

“He thought he was doing everything he was supposed to do,” she said.

According to Butler Township police, Bishop crashed his motorcycle Sunday afternoon while attempting to pass a pickup truck and clipped its rear bumper in the crash. He died at the scene.

Mckibbin described her nephew as an extrovert who was “full of life.” From hiking mountains to exploring swimming holes and being at home with family and his pit bull, Blade, Mckibbin said Bishop was open to experiencing whatever life had to offer him.

He enjoyed being at home as much as spending time outdoors, she said.

Both brought him calm and peace, she said.

After graduating from Butler Senior High School in 2019, Bishop, who was born in Nashville, worked several jobs. For nearly two years, he worked with a traveling carnival that also sets up at the Big Butler Fairgrounds. Bishop would help with ride operations and take on activities like face painting.

The nature of the job, which involved interacting with large groups of people, suited Bishop’s personality, his aunt said.

“He was a people person,” she said. “He wasn’t the person who couldn’t be in a crowd. Being around that many people — the more the merrier as far as he was concerned.”

The job also allowed him to travel around the country, Mckibbin said. Bishop had especially enjoyed traveling to Florida, she said.

“He fell in love with Florida,” she said. “He wanted to buy a little house for his mom in Florida so they could live there.”

About a year ago, Mckibbin said, he returned to Butler to be closer to his mother and his family.

Before his death, Bishop worked as a delivery driver at Domino’s. He wasn’t sure about attending college, McKibbin said, but was interested in financial investing, music and video games. He wrote his own rap songs, she said, and created his own beats.

Mckibbin said the family is currently trying to access and preserve Bishop’s music that he had created and saved on his computer.

“He was such a family kid,” she said. “He loved his mom, his niece, his nephew. He loved me. He and his cousin would go to Pirates games. His uncle was teaching him how to play golf.”

“He loved hard,” she said. “The people he loved, he loved completely.”

Mckibbin recalled dancing with her nephew when he was a groomsman at her son’s wedding.

“He looked at me and he said, ‘I love you so much,’” Mckibbin said.

“He had one of those genuine souls you don’t find often,” she said. “He always had a smile.”