Obituaries

Warren Mitchell

Warren Buckingham Mitchell CLEVELAND Warren Buckingham Mitchell, 89, died peacefully on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, after brief Hospice care. Born June 8, 1927 in Bridgeport, Conn., to Arthur Merwin Mitchell and Margretha Anderson Mitchell, he spent his boyhood in Stratford, Conn., and in Washington, Conn., at Painter Ridge, site of the family-owned Mitchell Dairy where he, his brother, David and his cousin, Ritchie, engaged in as many antics as they could get away with while still looking out for his younger sister, Elizabeth. He played football for and graduated from the Gunnery. His family moved to Florida, for a year and then to North Carolina, where he attended North Carolina State University before enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He married Grace Herndon of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and had three sons. During his career, Warren held financial management positions for Mitchell and Cumberland Dairies in North Carolina, and for Grant-Patten Milk, Happy Valley Dairy and Cookes Furniture Company, in Tennessee. He moved his family to Charlotte, N.C., for several years to work in his brothers company, Personal Money Management, Inc., before returning to Tennessee and establishing his own accounting firm, Senior Services, which he managed until the time of his death. Warren became a steadfast member of First Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, where he served as a Deacon and an Elder of the church. He was a resident of Cleveland, Tenn., for more than 50 years. During that time, he developed a very large network of friends, colleagues, and clients. He loved people and treasured their company daily. He was fond of saying, "I never met a stranger", which was apparent by the number of people who, in turn, called him their friend. He valued family and friends above all else and his life revolved around it. Warren was dedicated to the lives of his children and grandchildren and was delighted when his family gathered from near and far for a reunion to celebrate his 80th birthday. Seeing all the children, cousins, grandchildren, great-grandchild, nieces, nephews and grand-nieces, he marveled at the breadth of his family. Some years after the death of his devoted wife, he was blessed once more with the love and companionship of Betty Herndon. Warren was a person of no nonsense with solid ethics, a strong voice and a kind heart. A fiercely determined man, he lived independently, even driving himself to the hospital for needed surgeries and home again afterward. He had an offbeat sense of humor and enjoyed teasing family members and goading them, if he could. He was an avid bridge player and played duplicate bridge until the week before his death. Speaking with his brother and cousin about a month before his death, he remarked about the good life hed had. In addition to his wife, Grace, Warren was preceded in death by his son, William Arthur Mitchell, of Cleveland, Tenn.; his sister, Elizabeth Gay Quinn, of Raeford, N.C.; and his nephew, Wesley Warren Mitchell, of Charlotte, N.C. He is survived by his son, James David Mitchell; wife, Melissa; and their children, Katlyn, Zack and Matthew, of Brentwood, Tenn.; his son, Eliot Meredith Mitchell, wife, Becky, of Spring Hill, Tenn.; and their children, Branden, Danielle, and Eliot, Jr., of the Washington, D.C. area; his granddaughter, Patricia Mitchell Linder; and great-grandchildren, Jasmine, Daisha, Demonte and Tanyia, of Athens, Tenn.; his brother, David Wesley Mitchell, and wife, Jinny; his niece, Sharon Ann Mitchell and husband, Tom Parker; his nephew, David Tilden Arthur Mitchell and wife, Catherine, of Charlotte, N.C.; his niece, Mary-lynn Mitchell, of Davidson, N.C.; his nephew, Kipling Nash Maroney and wife, Rosalina, of Raeford, N.C.; his cousin, Richard Jordan and wife, Mary, of Tacoma, Wash.; and his sweetheart, Betty Herndon, of Murrells Inlet, S.C. Family visitation will be held at First Presbyterian Church, in Cleveland from 2 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Amemorial service to celebrate the life of Warren B. Mitchell will immediately follow the visitation at 3 p.m. Warren will be interred at Ocean Wood Cemetery in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, at 3 p.m. Condolences may be sent to all living relatives listed above and memorials to First Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, Tenn. The family is being served locally by Grissom- Serenity Funeral Home & Cremation Services.

Published August 31, 2016

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