Patricia Ann Mitchell

Patricia Ann Mitchell (Patty) was born Patricia Ann Tuthill on May 1, 1930 to Leslie E. and Charis J. Tuthill in Seattle, Washington.  Patricia’s father was a mining engineer who supervised mines in the Pacific Northwest in the 1930’s.  She and her brother lived with her family in Oroville for some time where her father supervised operations at the Gold Axe mine, and she spent summers at other mine sites in the Northwest and Yreka, California.

Patricia attended Roosevelt High School in Seattle and then studied art and fashion design at the University of Washington.  At the University she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, and she was active in student government.  She later worked for a sportswear firm in Seattle preparing buyer fashion booklets for the Bon Marche, Frederick and Nelson, and Best (later Nordstrom’s) department stores.  While living in Richland, where she had many friends, Patricia designed the costumes for the Richland Light Opera company’s production of My Fair Lady.  She also studied art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Silvermine College of Art in Connecticutt.  She was a member of the Harvard Dames, and she attended classes in psychology at Harvard.

When her husband, Captain William F. Mitchell, USN, attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., Patricia attended the College’s national security seminars and made a field trip with him to Germany to study that country’s industries, financial institutions, government, and natural resources.

At the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, the Mitchell’s home facing the parade ground was open to midshipmen, their families and friends forming lifelong, close friendships.  Here she was a member of the Officers and Faculty Wives’ Club and the Naval Academy Chapel Guild.

Having regularly visited the Leavenworth, Plain and Lake Wenatchee area for thirty years, together with her husband she designed and created their home near Plain where they have lived since 1983.  She was a member of the North Central Washington Museum, the Evergreen Club in Plain and the Ponderosa Firemen’s Auxiliary.

She is survived by her husband, William F. Mitchell at home; a brother, Dick Tuthill of Lynnwood; a daughter, Leslie Snyder and her husband, Richard, of Kirkland; a son, Russell R. Stenquist, and his wife, Joni, of Santa Ana, California; a stepdaughter, Dr. Betsy Mitchell, and her husband, Dr. Wayne Sousa, of Berkeley, California; a stepdaughter, Lori Mitchell of Potomac, Montana and her husband Patrick Marsolek; a stepson, Peter Mitchell and his wife, Lila, of Ocosta, granddaughters Chelsea Jo Mitchell and Lauren Scafturon, and grandsons, Shawn and Andrew Truesdell, Russell Lon Snyder, Joseph William Mitchell, and Jake and Evan Sousa and Nick Scafturon.