Athene Mitchell, 91, of Perry quietly passed away with the love of her life, Lester, by her side Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Rowley Masonic Community in Perry, Iowa.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 22 at 11 a.m. at the Perry Bible Church in Perry. Visitation will be Wednesday, March 21 from 5-7 p.m. at the Carris Family Funeral Home and Cremation Care in Perry. Burial will be at the Violet Hill Cemetery in Perry.
Memorials may be given to Perry Bible Church and Dallas County Historical Society and may be left at the Carris Family Funeral Home and Cremation Care. Online condolences may be sent at www.carrisfuneralhome.com.
Athene Mitchell, the fourth of seven children, was born Aug. 11, 1926, in Yale, Iowa, to Lester and Elva (Babberl) Hay.
She loved her brothers so much and always spoke of each of them with respect and love.
She graduated from Panora High School, and later that same year she was united in marriage to Lester Loren Mitchell at United Methodist Church in Perry Nov. 29, 1945.
The biggest share of her life was raising a big garden and taking care of her family.
When she did work outside her home, she sold Figurettes, managed Snowden’s Outlet Store in Panora and Perry and worked at a ladies clothing store in Perry.
Grandkids were the love of her life, and she would take the boys fishing at a nearby creek and give foot massages to her granddaughters.
She took all the boys to the state fair and tied them together with a rope so she wouldn’t lose them. They also went on camping trips together and to bluegrass festivals.
Athene also enjoyed gardening (vegetable and flower), canning, reading, sewing, crocheting, playing board games, cards, dancing and clogging, singing, yodeling, bluegrass festivals, being outside, refinishing antiques, collecting and going to Arizona.
She loved to be in clubs, such as Stitch & Chatter, TOPS, Garden-club, Questers, Dallas County Historical Society, and she volunteered at Dallas County Conservation.
She was a member of the Perry Bible Church.
In death she rejoins her parents, Lester and Elva Hay; and five brothers, Kenneth, Howard, Donald, Derald and Duane.
Left to cherish Athene’s memory are her husband, Lester Mitchell; children, Rodney (Rena) Mitchell of Spring, Texas, Denise (Larry) Cornelison of Waukee and Randy (Denise) Mitchell of Boone; grandchildren, Ray (Breta) Cornelison of Adel, Alicia Kennedy of Waukee, Leah (Aaron) Larson of West Des Moines, Greg (Katy) Mitchell of Grimes, Adam Mitchell of Adel, Gina Mitchell of Spring, Texas, Eric (Sarah) Mitchell of Parker, Colo., and Doug (Angie) Mitchell of Everly, Iowa; 11 great-grandchildren; and a brother, Maurice (Joyce) Hay of Winterset.
Sorry for all family and friends. She was a good neighbor.