John Elbert Mitchell

Jan 28, 1939 - Oct 21, 2024

John was a beloved son, brother, athlete, Sigma Chi, husband, teacher, coach, IBMer, Dad, Grandpa/Papa, woodworker, storyteller, Rotarian, volunteer, and sunset photographer. He loved people more than anything and never met a stranger. John had many stories to tell and he always loved a new audience. John was most proud of his family, the remarkable students, baseball players, and coworkers he worked with, and the time he spent giving back to his community.

He was born in Lewiston, ID to Mayme and Elbert Mitchell, joining his sister Marilyn. He later moved to Ephrata, WA where he graduated from high school. There, John played football, basketball, and baseball, taught swim lessons, and ran the community swimming pool. John graduated from WSU in 1962 with a degree in mathematics. He was a proud member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and was on the swim team.

After graduation, John married Marji Neill and found his love of teaching and coaching. He taught in Lewiston and Yakima and earned a master's degree in mathematics. John switched careers, accepting a systems engineer position with IBM in Seattle. Settled in Bellevue, he and Marji became proud parents to Chris and Steve. During his time at IBM, the family moved to Princeton, NJ, Cleveland, OH, and eventually back to WA in Olympia. As the boys became involved with sports John resumed coaching, primarily baseball. After John and Marji divorced, John remarried Marie Anderson in 1987 (an old family friend), and acquired bonus daughter Sarah, and son Jay.

John eventually transferred back to IBM Seattle where he lived the rest of his life. John retired from IBM and returned to his love of teaching math at the middle school level and ended his career at Roosevelt High School. Over the years John relished his job as coach and teacher. John dedicated his time as a summer baseball coach, debate coach, and the head coach of the Roosevelt High School baseball team.

In his retirement, John enjoyed doting on his amazing 11 grandchildren, tackling woodworking projects, traveling, volunteering, and spending time in Chelan. John and Marie owned a condo at Lake Chelan where they loved to spend time on the lake, ski, attend Bach Fest, and help the fledgling wine industry grow. Through Rotary John became a volunteer with Edible Hope, a feeding program at St Lukes Episcopal Church in Ballard, where he greeted every client with a smile while he served breakfast two mornings per week. John's retirement was unfortunately sidetracked by a diagnosis of end-stage renal disease, and he required a kidney transplant. Thanks to an altruistic live kidney donor John received a perfectly matched kidney in 2013. John was forever grateful to his donor and enjoyed greatly improved health for his remaining years.

John is survived by his wife of 37 years, Marie Anderson; sons Chris (Denise) Mitchell, Steve (Tanya) Mitchell, and Jay (Rashele) Putra; daughter Sarah (Pete) Salentine; eleven grandchildren; and his sister Marilyn (Aubrey) Fredericks.

Gifts in John's memory are suggested to the Elbert and Mayme Mitchell Family Scholarship Fund at foundation.wsu.edu; Edible Hope at stlukesseattle.org, and the Kidney Transplant Research Fund at UW Medicine give.uwmedicine.org.

A memorial service for family and close friends is planned for November 30.