Frank Eveland Mitchell

April 14, 1945 - April 14, 2026

Frank Eveland Mitchell was a kind gentle man, born with a splendid appetite for life on April 14th, 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was thoughtful and humble. Frank passed away in his sleep, in the early morning hours, at his home in Amherst, Virginia on April 14th, 2026 – his 81st birthday. He was the son of Horace Binney Mitchell and Thursa Harlow Mitchell.

At the 1964 Methodist Student Movement conference, Frank was chosen as a representative to meet Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he was only 19 years old. He was a survivor of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon in 2001, remembered for collecting his coworkers’ desk notes before crawling on his hands and knees down a smoky heated hallway that would later collapse entirely.

Frank was a constant supporter of local libraries and an avid reader. His appreciation for literature was a gift for his family and friends. One was never far from his articulate dry quips, derived either from his own comedic senses or passed down from his mother Thursa’s charming wit. In the morning you might hear from him, “Have you yet completed your ablutions?” Later in the day, something ironically insignificant or rightly superfluous was “so de trop.” Splitting a beer with him often meant “having a demitasse before the meal.” For his Dickinson College fraternity friends, he brought topical yet irrelevant items such as the “gold drain” into their orbit. After a large meal he would note the oncoming “postprandial torpor” and to prepare for his imminent uselessness.

He was an accomplished gardener, birder, and an amateur naturalist of sorts. He often pointed out colorfully named trees and creatures: a Shagbark Hickory, a Rufous-sided Towhee. He can be remembered pulling the bark back from a Black Birch tree to taste its sweet sap, toting compost from his productive backyard pile to a garden bed, and choosing a less traveled trail in the woods. Frank had a special love for the seasons, and the tasks that came with them: harvesting a garden, raking leaves, and especially shovelling out from a good winter storm.

Frank had a truly understated feel for the richness of life; he shared his time with family and friends through countless self-deprecating and comical experiences. He often picked up hitchhikers on his morning commutes, with some colorful regulars, including a retired Rev. Turner from Turnbull, Virginia who always hopped on around 7:20 am with a partly eaten chicken drumstick in hand. Only a few days after arriving for his job in Indiana, he was already renting refrigerator space to his new Amish neighbors. Visiting his son Paul in Idaho, he would ask gas station attendants if they knew Bruce Willis & Demi Moore (who lived in Hailey, Idaho at the time). He had a great talent for bodysurfing, riding ocean beach waves until his nose touched the sand and the foamy water receded. Annual beach trips to Rockport, MA and in particular Cape Hedge Beach were joyous days, rain or shine. One year we played a form of beach soccer with a tennis ball for hours everyday in the mist under low dark August clouds beside a grey sea with a close horizon. We often fished, but terribly, and on one occasion at Gull Cove using truly vicious biting sandworms for bait, Frank hooked by its gill an unlucky Atlantic Cod that happened to be simply passing by. He was a talented runner, tennis player, nordic skier, ice skater, and always eager for pick-up basketball games so he could try to nail his skyhooks! He relished making sticky buns and pizza from scratch.

Frank’s family came from the northern side of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his youth the family lived for a time with his grandfather in Germantown, Philadelphia and also in Jenkintown, Wyncote, and Hastings-On-Hudson, NY before settling at 561 Bradford Ave in Westfield, NJ. He graduated from Westfield High School in 1963. Following his father he attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, having been also accepted to the University of Pennsylvania. At Dickinson, Frank made many lifelong friends and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. This was promptly followed with an MS in Organic Chemistry from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. In late 1969 he enlisted in the US Navy, later attending the Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He was appointed a Lieutenant, and was a navigator on a destroyer, the USS Harold J Ellison. He journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa and on to the Middle East, with several stops in the Persian Gulf including Bahrain, Bandar Abbas, Iran and Karachi, Pakistan. On September 25th, 1970 he joined the ranks in the ancient order of the deep, as a Trusty Shellback.

Following his Navy service, Frank moved to Essex Junction, Vermont and began working at IBM. Through a blind date he met Phyllis Franklin in Burlington. They were married on December 13th, 1975 at the All Saints Episcopal Church in South Burlington. They had a son, Paul Justin Mitchell, on September 25th, 1976, born in Burlington, Vermont. At the time of Frank’s passing, he and Phyllis had been married for 50 years and 4 months. Frank and his family would later move to Warrenton, Virginia where he continued to work with IBM at their Manassas semiconductor manufacturing facility. In 2000, Frank and Phyllis moved to Bloomington, Indiana where he worked as a civilian for the US Army at the Crane Army Ammunition Activity. He loved working at Crane until his retirement in July of 2018. Both Phyllis and Frank left many beloved friends and fond memories in Bloomington, moving to Amherst, Virginia in 2020.

Frank sadly suffered a severe and debilitating stroke in late November of 2020, during the initial peak of the Covid pandemic. Surviving his stroke during that moment was a powerful testament to Frank’s will and love of life. Despite being severely disabled on his right side and losing much of his speaking and communication skills, he pushed forward seeing the benefits that his persistent daily efforts might yield. He would eventually regain some mobility and found joy keeping up with the news of family and friends, as well as watching the seasons change in Amherst. He was beloved by his caretakers and all who encountered him, for his sweetness, kind disposition, and helpfulness. He played chess weekly with children in the neighborhood and was seen daily pushing himself backwards down the street in his wheelchair for exercise. He tuned in almost every week to video meetings with his lifelong Dickinson friends group, also known as the “Gabfest”.

We will deeply miss Frank, his beautiful blue eyes, and the sincere affection he shared for his family, friends, coworkers and the life he experienced with them. He will be forever remembered.

Frank is survived by his wife, Phyllis Kent Franklin Mitchell of Amherst, Virginia; his son Paul Justin Mitchell and his girlfriend Jessica Mead of Boise, Idaho; his brother Peter Mitchell & sister-in-law Kate Mitchell of Underhill, Vermont; his sister Margaret Russell & brother-in-law Peter Russell of Rockport, Massachusetts; his sister-in-law Sue-Ellen Mitchell of Darien, Connecticut; his brother-in-law Allan Gourley & sister-in-law Linda Gourley of Dry Fork, Virginia; his sister-in-law Vickie Loftis of Danville, Virginia; his brother-in-law William Franklin & his partner Joyce Simpson of Gretna, Virginia; and many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. He was preceded in death by his beloved brother, Robert Warfield Mitchell; his mother Thursa Harlow Mitchell; and his father Horace Binney Mitchell.

A graveside service will be held on April 20, 2026, at 1:00 pm at Little Fork Episcopal Church in Rixeyville, Virginia with Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan officiating. Frank will be interred at the green burying grounds at Little Fork Episcopal Church.

Tharp Funeral Home, Madison Heights, is assisting the family. To send condolences, please

visit www.tharpfuneralhome.com