Warren G. Mitchell's Obituary
Warren G. Mitchell, 87, died peacefully at his home in St. Clair on March 24, 2009. He and his younger sister, Carolyn, were born in Detroit and raised by their mother, Florence Mitchell. Warren went to work at an early age delivering ice, newspapers, and groceries. Growing up, the job he most enjoyed was working in the commissary at Briggs Stadium because it included delivering after-game sandwiches to the clubhouse of the Detroit Tigers.
He loved baseball and played third base for a national championship American Legion team in the mid -1930’s. After graduating from Northwestern High School, in Detroit, he signed a professional contract with the St. Louis Browns and played a season of minor league ball in up-state New York.
Warren enrolled in Albion College and graduated early in order to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served as an officer on a mine sweeper, the USS Triumph, in the Pacific Theater. The Triumph sailed with the 3rd and 5th Fleets and saw action Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa, earning six battle stars.
On January 12, 1946, Warren married the former Jane White, whom he had met while both were students at Albion College. Following his Naval Discharge in March, 1946, the couple moved to St. Clair, Michigan where Warren began a career in the automobile business. He opened Mitchell Motor Sales in 1946, a Hudson Motor Car dealership, at the northwest corner of South Riverside and Clinton.
In 1952, the Hudson Motor Car Company closed and Warren joined his father in Mt. Clemens operating Mitchell Buick Sales. He bought the dealership in 1956 and added Honda in 1972.
Until retirement, in 1983, Warren was very active in the Detroit Auto Dealers Association and the National Auto Dealers Council. He was also a member of the Mt. Clemens Lions Club, the St. Clair Investment Club and the First United Methodist Church.
Upon retirement, Warren spent his time with the four generations of his family. He was also an avid golfer and a member of the St. Clair River Country Club from 1946 until his death, having served as president in 1961-62. He also belonged to Pine Tree Golf Club in Florida where he shot his age at 85.
Warren is survived by his wife, Jane; his daughter and son-in-law, Peg and Mike Turner
(Albion, Michigan); his son and daughter-in-law, Dick and Kate Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Michigan). He has six grandchildren; Amy Turner Thole (Grand Rapids), Tracy Turner Wolford (Grand Rapids), Ben Mitchell (California), Lizzie Mitchell (Texas), Emma Mitchell (Colorado) and William Mitchell (Ann Arbor); and four great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his sister, Carolyn Evans, in 1998.
Visitation is Friday from 5-8 PM in the L.C. Friederichs & Son Funeral Home, St. Clair.
In state at the First United Methodist Church, St. Clair, Saturday from 1PM till service at 2 PM. Burial in Hillside Cemetery, St. Clair. Memorials to First United Methodist Church, St. Clair. Arrangements by L.C. Friederichs & Sons Funeral Home.
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