R. Whitney Mitchell ’58

Whitney Mitchell ’58 died September 29, 2014, while on vacation in the People’s Republic of China. He was born in Malden, Mass., on December 28, 1931, and prepared for college at Stoneham High School and Huntington School. He served to petty officer third class in the Navy during the Korean War. A member of Chi Psi fraternity, he graduated cum laude from Bowdoin in 1959. He went on to study linguistics at Yale University. One of his first occupations was as a foreign language computer programmer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A few years later he declined a job offer from IBM to instead travel to Africa to teach English to French soldiers in the Congo. Upon returning from Africa, he accepted a position as a French teacher at Fox Lane High School in Bedford Hills, N.Y. He then worked for the National Education Association, and finally for BOCES, as a labor relations specialist, until his retirement. He was the co-author of Ecrivons le Français, a French workbook. He served as parish administrator and parish master of ceremony at Grace Episcopal Church in Elmira, NY. He is survived by son John T. Mitchell, daughter Lisa M. Amante, sisters Lorraine Savage and Bette Biggio, brothers Eugene and Ralph Mitchell, and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife of 45 years, Tula Tolonen, and brother Phillip Mitchell.

 

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