Jerry Mitchell

Jerry W. Mitchell SALT LAKE CITY - The Honorable Jerry Warren Mitchell, born Dec. 30, 1925 near Sutherland, Utah, died at home in Salt Lake City June 9, 2009. Members of his family were by his side. He was the third son of Albert Wallace Mitchell Sr. and Klara Emelie Larsson. A farm boy who graduated high school at the top of his class in Mabton, Wash., and later at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y., he served out World War II on Liberty ships and C-3s sometimes evading Japanese torpedoes and other times 60-foot waves in the North Atlantic. He achieved the rank of chief officer and earned his Unlimited Masters License. His seagoing days came to an abrupt end when he met Vivian Beverly Hansen at the Manhattan Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York City. She was pursuing her master's degree at Columbia University and later founded the School of Nursing at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. They were married in the LDS Temple at Logan, Utah, in 1954. He completed his education with a JD degree from the George Washington University Law School and became an admiralty attorney for the Department of Justice in San Francisco. In 1962, he moved his family including four children to the Canal Zone in Panama where he worked in the office of the General Counsel of the Panama Canal Commission. In this position, he set a precedent by commandeering a launch and seizing a Soviet ship that had caused damage to the Panama Canal. This incident did not become historic when for the first time the USSR paid the damages. In 1969, he became a federal judge in Portsmouth. He completed his career as an administrative law judge for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alameda, Calif. Throughout his life, he volunteered for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints including serving as Scout master, Elders Quorum president, Branch and District president in Panama, Bishop of the Norfolk and San Bruno, Calif., wards, and first counselor in the San Francisco Stake Presidency. At the time of his death, he was the High Priest Quorum secretary in the Arlington Hills Ward in Salt Lake City. Judge Mitchell is survived by his wife of 55 years, Vivian Beverly Hansen and his four children, Jeffrey (Gibson Island, Md.), Eve (Salt Lake City), Jon (Kannapolis, N.C.) and Steven (Scottsdale, Ariz.), their respective spouses, Joanne Bader, Reed Stockdale, Sharmyn Christensen, and Sharyl Edmiston; 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 20, in Arlington Hills Ward Chapel at 518 East 18th Ave., Salt Lake City. Friends and family may call at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, on Friday, June 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. Condolences may be shared at www.larkinmortuary.com/opc_sop.php. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund at www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,2911-1-3270-1,00.html.