Thomas Mitchell

Thomas O. Mitchell passed away at his home December 16, 2025. He was born July 25, 1940, in Saratoga, Texas, the middle of the Big Thicket.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Leona Stockholm Mitchell and James Lester Mitchell Sr.; his brothers, John Dwight Mitchell, and James Lester Mitchell Jr.; his sister, Leona Maureen Mitchell; and his loving wife, Janice.
He is survived by his brother, Robert E. Mitchell and several nieces and nephews.
Reared on a farm outside of Kountze, Texas, until moving to Beaumont Texas as a teenager, he graduated from Beaumont High School in 1958. He served in the Air Force Reserve, attaining the rank of staff sergeant and served in the Beaumont Police Department from 1963 to 1968.
Mitchell received his M.A. degree in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston University in 1973. He was employed as Education and Recreation Supervisor of the Coffield Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections in 1970 then became a security officer (better known as a sky marshall) for the U.S. Customs Service in 1971 and was assigned to TWA Airlines flying out of New York City.
He later served as a sky marshall in both Dallas and Houston. In 1973, he was promoted to special agent (criminal investigator) in U.S. Customs where he served in Houston, Texas, Jacksonville, Florida, Washington D. C., and as an instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia. His awards included citations from both the Secretary of the Treasury and the Congress of the U. S. for undercover work in a major drug smuggling investigation. He spent his last seven working years as the agent in charge of the Customs Office of Investigations in Houma, Louisianna.
He was an avid outdoorsman, having hiked and skied in both the Rocky Mountains and Appalachians and was a longtime member of the Benton MacKaye Trail Association in Georgia. He was a pilot and a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and built and flew two experimental airplanes. He was also an avid sailor and crossed the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Columbia and Texas to the Bahamas and the Atlantic from England to the Bahamas, all the while navigating with a sextant and watch.
He was also an amateur thespian, having acted in numerous community theater productions. He was an active member of Cherry Log Christian Church in Cherry Log, Georgia.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, January 18, at 2:30 p.m. at Cherry Log Christian Church, located at 1149 Cherry Log Street, Cherry Log, Georgia, 30522.
Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.akinscobb.com.
Akins-Cobb Funerals and Cremations of Blue Ridge, Georgia, is in charge of the arrangements.