lanuary30,2013__________________________
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In Loving Memory
John David Mitchell Sr.
D eacon John
D avid M itchell Sr.,
also know n to his
fam ily as “JD ,” was
bom Sept. 5,1922 in
Kildare, Texas, and
diedJan.25,2013.
H e was second child bo m to the
late G eorge M itchell Sr. and Eddie
M ae G ross M itchell, and accepted
C hrist at a very early age at St. John
B aptist C hurch in Kildare. A t the age
o f 12 he was serving as a ju n io r dea­
con.
H e attended grade school and high
school in Kildare. H e jo in ed the arm y
at age 17 during W orld W ar II and
served his country well. H e was
proud o f his service and w ore his
Veteran o f Foreign W ar hat with pride.
O n Dec. 25,1941, D eacon Mitchell
m arried the first love ofhis life, the late
R odessa A nnettte M itchell. T o this
union w ere bom 13 children. Four
sons, baby boy M itchell (1942), Earl
Ray M itchell (1965), C urtis Lavon
M itchell (1991), and M arvin G lenn
M itchell (2005); four brothers, and
four sisters, preceded him in death.
D eacon M itchell’s father was a
visionary, encouraging his children
to leave the South for a new age o f
industrial labor. In the late 1940s
D eacon M itchell m oved his fam ily to
W est Richland, W ash., w here he was
em ployed on the janitorial crew w ork­
ing at the M cN ary Dam.
In the m id -1950s he heard about a
progressive minister, the late Dr. Rev.
O. B. W illiam s and w anted to be part
o f that m inistry. H e began looking
and found em ploym ent in the Port­
land area and in 1956 he m oved his
fam ily to Portland.
D eacon M itchell loved the Lord
and served in m any m inistries. H e
serv ed as D eacon o f V an co u v er
A venue First Baptist C hurch, N ew
H ope B aptist C hurch, and G reater
N ew H ope Baptist Church; serving
as a m em ber o f the G ospel choir, as a
Sunday school teacher, as superin­
tendent o f Sunday school, and as
D eacon for the Pacific N orthw est
C onvention Ushers.
D eacon M itchell w orked and re­
tired from several com panies: Esco
(28 years), school bus com pany (10
years), and T riM et(12years). During
the sum m ers through the m id-1960s
after w orking at Esco all night he
w ould jo in his fam ily at the O regon
Trail Farm s. Y ou can hear D eacon
M itchell saying “If a m an don ’ t work,
he d o n ’t eat.”
A fter the death o fh is first love o f
47 years (Rodessa), he m arried his
second love in 1999, R osa Gachet.
R osa m ade our dad very happy. They
both traveled and cruised the world,
going to the M editerranean Sea, Eu­
rope, P anam a Canal, Alaska, V irgin
Islands, M exico, Caribbean and many
places in the U nited States.
D eaco n M itchell leaves to c el­
ebrate his hom e-going, his w ife R dsa
G achet; 10 children, R aym ond, C al
(M arva), Jew ell N orm an, John Jr.
(J a n e ), B a rb a ra , a n d J e ffe rs o n
G ach et (D ennis Fay), all o f P o rt­
land; A rth u r (N atalie) o f Southlake,
T exas, P am ela M arshall, Jim m ie, o f
Jack so n v ille, Fla., and G reg o ry o f
O akland, C alif.; tw o brothers, N orris
M itch ell Sr., Seattle, and Jam es
M elvin M itchell, H ouston, Texas;
and a sister Inez Jefferso n o f D allas,
Page 15
T ex as; 25 g ran d ch ild ren , 25 great
g ra n d c h ild re n an d 2 g re a t-g re a t
g ran d ch ild ren and special friends
B eatrice M oore and B arbara Propps.
H e leaves a host o f n ieces, n ep h ­
ew s, co u sin s and friends.
A view ing w ill be held at R oss
H ollyw ood C hapel on Friday, Feb. 1
fro m 9 a.m. to 4 :3 0 p .m . w ith a service
held the follow ing day at V ancouver
A venue First B aptist C hurch at 11
am
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Voices against Closures
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
A ndronici said closing schools
is destabilizing to those w ho need
the m ost stability— the long-term ,
m a rg in a liz e d c o m m u n ity o f the
Jefferson cluster.
“ I w ant the school board to slow
this process dow n and co m e up
w ith a w ell-thought out, strategic
long-term plan fo r this clu ster,” she
said.
R e p re s e n tin g m o re th a n 4 ,0 0 0
te a c h e r s in th e P o r tla n d a re a ,
P r e s id e n t o f P o r tla n d ’s A s s o ­
c ia tio n o f T e a c h e rs G w en
S u l l i v a n s a id i t ’ s n o t a b o u t
w h ic h s c h o o ls to c lo s e , b u t h o w
a re w e g o in g to w o rk to g e th e r to
m a k e s u re o u r k id s h a v e r e ­
s o u rc e s in th o s e s c h o o ls .
“E very single n eighborhood d e ­
serves a very strong quality neig h ­
borhood school,” said Sullivan.
P rotestors filing inside Jefferso n
after the rally w ere served hot coffee
and tea before the P o rtland Public
School board sat everyone dow n
for a “listening session.”
S uperintendent C arole S m ith an ­
nounced that she w as appreciativ e
fo r the passion d em o n strated by
parents and teachers w ho really
cared about their kids and schools.
O n the tables before them w ere
district provided inform ation and
statistics entitled “E nrollm ent b a l­
ancing,” and feedback form s for
“Jefferson PK -8 Schools: O ptions
for finding the balance.”
T he school d istrict outlined tw o
proposal options. T he first, p ro m o t­
ing stronger, larger K -8 schools,
w ould close W oodlaw n school and
consolidate those students into a
dual K -8 cam pus w ith lo w er grades
at C h ie f Joseph and u p p er grades at
O ckley G reen. T he second, p ro m o t­
ing a m iddle school K-8 blend, w ould
create a j unior m iddle college (6-8) at
O ckley G reen, m oving C h ief Joseph
5th graders to W oodlaw n, and likely
closing V em on o r splitting the c am ­
pus w ith K ing.
T ran sfer and boundary changes
w ere also sketched out in the p ro ­
p o sal draft.
“W hat I am hoping is that you
can p rovide inform ation fo r w hat I
go forw ard w ith,” said Sm ith.
F r u s tr a tio n a n d te n s io n
b u b b le d in th e ro o m a n d o n e
g r a n d p a r e n t s to o d to p r o te s t,
“ T h is m e e tin g is d e s ig n e d to
m a k e p e o p le fe e l lik e th e y h a v e
in p u t, b u t h o w c a n I k n o w th a t
o u r in p u t is re a lly v a lu a b le ? ” A
m a jo r ity o f th e c ro w d n o d d e d
a n d c la p p e d w ith a p p ro v a l.
A discussion follow ed o f how
ideas should be com ing from the
co m m u n ity to inform the school
b o ard how to address school is­
sues, n o t from the top dow n.
O n e p aren t o f a ch ild at V ernon
said the Jefferso n clu ster and co m ­
m u n ity has been battling school
clo su res since 1980, and the school
district continues to use fancy w ords
like “enrollm ent balancing” fo r clos­
ing schools.
O ne y oung black w om an h elped
put th e situation in p ersp ectiv e for
m inorities. She said due to past rac­
ism and segregation, “B lacks w ere
fo rce d in to n o rth an d n o rth e a st
Portland. O ut o f survival w e created
a com m unity.” N ow , she said, “C las­
sicism and racism are breaking up
that co m m u n ity .”
M an y argued that the d istric t’s
tran sfer policy, w hich allow s fam i­
lies to tran sfer out o f th eir n eig h b o r­
h o o d schools to other, often m ore
affluent and financially-supported
schools, leaving those left behind
u n d e r-e n ro lle d an d la c k in g r e ­
so u rces, b reed s seg reg a tio n and
should be ended.
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