Well today would have been your mom's birthday here on earth. But, it is her 1st birthday in Heaven.
I want you to know that while I may never meet you in person, I will always consider you my friend. I don't venture into many posts on SurvivalBoard because of meanness and the way some people seem determined to hurt others. But, you have always extended the hand of friendship and I appreciate that. In all your posts I have never read where you struck out at someone for their ignorance or cruelty. That says a lot to me. You are one of the good guys, Mike Mitchell and I am fortunate to have learned many things from you.
Thanks for all of the posts, condolences etc. from all who have bothered to look at this thread anymore.
And thanks for ruining my "Opsec" Sherrie. Kidding since at least once before I have given my name and it is in the newspaper article about my parents. And "Mike Mitchell" is a very common name as I saw when I googled it. I do have as much privacy as I can and I don't think I can be found easily unless some wish to waste a lot of time and maybe even money.
I hope many will look at some or all of the posts on the previous page of this thread. But if not then I must post the following one more time. Anyone can post this newspaper article elsewhere if you wish.
That newspaper lady interviewed me for about 3 hours and looked at many photos but glad they chose the best photo of my parents which I took about 5 years ago on my private road and my mtn land is seen to the right.
This will probably be the last time I post this article anywhere else and in case some missed it >>>
Here is an article that was written a few days ago and in the Johnstown Breeze newspaper. Johnstown, Colorado is where my mom and dad lived for at least seven years in the 1980's and from 1957 to 1963. This is a nice article that I was surprised to see that they took a lot of time etc. to create. Guess they thought it was something interesting and different? Hope quite a few will take a few minutes and read this article, which might be the only place on the net it will be posted. Except I did post it on facebook yesterday. This article tells much of what I would tell - write if I was a good writer. My parents were the two most important people in my life and maybe many cannot understand that, especially if you do not ever see or call your parents or have or had a bad relationship... I was "fortunate" that I did have a good, close relationship with them.
I am not going to be online too much in the future unless something interesting or important happens. Such as an economic collapse, WWIII, terrorist attacks or the Hillary getting elected. Anyway, Thanks to all who care, thank and like what I have ever posted since 2009 >
Together nearly 60 years, apart only six days
By Kathy Wagner
The Johnstown Breeze
They were married for nearly
60 years. They died just six
days apart.
The last six months have
been really hard on Mike.
Both of his parents,
Duane and Vera Mitchell, were
in their early 80s and they each
had multiple health problems.
Mike was their only child, and
the responsibility for taking
care of them fell on him.
He said he had actually been taking
care of them for the last
couple of years in their Greeley
home since their health began
to decline.
His mom was hospitalized
in late January for five days,
then returned home with home
health care. On Feb. 5, his father
went into the hospital, and
on Feb. 10, he was placed in a
nursing home in Greeley.
On Feb. 12, his mom was placed in
the same nursing home and
shared a room with Mike’s father.
“She really didn’t want to
go to the nursing home but …
they wanted to be together and
so they were,” Mike said.
His father returned home on
March 31 and was able to remain
there until near the end of
May. Mike’s mother remained
in the nursing home, and Mike
and his father were “going up
there at least twice a day ... one
Sunday we went up there three
times,” he said.
His father’s condition worsened and he
couldn’t visit his wife in the
nursing home. “He hated that
he couldn’t be up there,” Mike
said.
On May 25, his father was
admitted into hospice care and
returned to the nursing home
where he could spend his last
days with his wife.
“At least twice a day I could
get her to see him and she’d
hold his hand,” Mike said.
Mike was able to hold his
father’s hand for the last 15 or
20 minutes he was alive. A
minute or so after Duane died,
on May 29, Mike and a nurse
were able to help his mom up
so she could kiss her husband
one last time.
After his father’s death, his
mother became very distressed
and continued to become more
and more upset, Mike said. She
began to talk about being with
his father. Six days after his father
’s death, on June 4, his
mother died.
“If my dad would still be
alive I bet my mom would
still,” Mike said. “She probably
felt like she didn’t have any
purpose.”
There was a graveside service
for Mike’s parents at the
Johnstown Cemetery on June
21. There were two U.S. Navy
representatives who played
taps and presented Mike with a
U.S. flag in honor of his father’s
service.
Two of Mike’s mother’s brothers from Stoneham
were there along with
Mike’s cousin. A sister-in-law
of his parents was there too. It
was a short service.
Duane Mitchell was born in
Phillipsburg, Kansas. He grew
up in Milliken and graduated
from Milliken High School. He
served in the United States
Navy from 1952 to 1956, and
was in the U.S. Navy Reserve
for several years after that.
He met Mike’s mother while he
was in the Navy, and after Duane
got out of the Navy, they
married on Dec. 14, 1957. According
to Mike, Duane was
employed at the Great Western
Sugar Company’s Molasses
Desugarizing Plant in Johnstown
from 1957 until 1963.
He worked at the Colorado
Beef Company in Sterling from
1963 until about 1980. Duane
worked for the Weld County
Department of Public Works
from 1980 until he retired at
age 65.
Vera (Carlson) Mitchell was
born in Portal, North Dakota.
She was one of 11 children,
seven girls and four boys. In
1939, her family moved to
Minnesota and, when she was
in the 4th grade, they moved to
Stoneham, Colorado.
In May of
1951, she graduated from
Stoneham High School. Vera
attended Colorado College of
Education in Greeley for one
year majoring in home economics.
Then she worked in
bank bookkeeping departments
in Fort Morgan and Greeley for
several years.
It was during this time that she met Duane.
Vera had some problems with her
breathing, and in the mid 1950s
she went to Denver for surgery
in which a portion of each lung
was removed. Vera continued
to work during the 1950s and
up through 1971 as a bookkeeper.
After that she volunteered
with RSVP doing grocery
shopping for those who
couldn’t do it themselves. She
became a volunteer coordinator
with the Weld Food Bank and
worked in this position until
she retired in the late 1990s.
Mike said that his parents
were never very religious (they
had attended several churches
over the years), but in their later
years they watched Christian
TV programs together every
Saturday and Sunday (including
Billy Graham and Charles
Stanley) and they also studied
the Bible.
Mike said his parents spent
most of their time together. His
father even had his mother’s
name tattooed on his arm.
During the last few months, when
both of his parents were in and
out of the hospital and nursing
home, Mike said his dad said
he “didn’t know what he was
going to do if she dies first.”
Now that both of his parents
are gone, Mike said he would
like to live on the three-and-ahalf
acres in Wyoming where
he is building a log cabin.
It doesn’t look like that will happen
soon because his parents
didn’t think they needed a will
and he will have to stay in their
home in Greeley while the estate
is worked out.
Their bank account is frozen and he won’t
be able to sell the family home
soon.
But even amid that, Mike
does take some solace in the
fact that his parents, who spent
nearly six decades together,
were only separated for less
than a week, and now are together
again.
Maybe the song by Collin
Raye says it best: “If you get
there before I do, don’t give up
on me. I’ll meet you when my chores are through...."
Here is a video of my mom and dad's graveside service which took place at the Johnstown, CO cemetery on June 21, 2016 and it is a facebook link so I suppose many might not be able to view it. It is mainly two Navy guys doing the ceremony with the bugle and US flag >
https://www.facebook.com/mike.mitch...084414033061/1127070710701098/?type=3&theater