Margaretta L. Mitchell

HERKIMER-Margaretta L. "Gretta" Mitchell, age 92 of Herkimer, wife of the late Congressman Donald J. Mitchell, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, May 28, 2017, in Manassas, VA where she had been staying recently to be near her daughter, Cindy.
She was born on October 30, 1924, in Ilion, daughter of the late Dr. E. Allen and Margaret Tinker LeVee. A lifelong resident of the Mohawk Valley, she was a graduate of Little Falls High School and of Syracuse University, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree. Mrs. Mitchell taught Home Economics in the 1960s in both Mohawk and Ilion schools.
On October 20, 1945 she was united in marriage to Donald J. Mitchell in the First Presbyterian Church, Little Falls, shortly after he returned home from service as a Navy pilot during World War II. They shared a loving and devoted union of fifty-seven years until his passing on September 27, 2003.
Mrs. Mitchell was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Herkimer, a member for many years of the Herkimer Garden Club, Herkimer Historical Society, and a member of the Congressional Wives Club in Washington, DC.
Surviving her are two daughters, Gretchen Barr and her husband Sandy of San Antonio, TX; Cynthia Mitchell-Gingles and her husband John of Manassas, VA; one granddaughter, Susan Ashley Barr of Dallas, TX, and one step granddaughter, Lisa Mercedes Gingles of Manassas, VA and several nieces, nephews and cousins. Beside her parents and husband Don, she was preceded in death by her son Allen Packard Mitchell in 1984.
Calling for Mrs. Mitchell will be on Monday from 2:00 until 4:00 pm at the Fenner Funeral Home, 115 Court Street, Herkimer. Funeral service will be held in the funeral home on Tuesday at 10:00 am, with the Reverend Janet Gleason, pastor of the First United Methodist Church Herkimer/Little Falls officiating. Interment will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Memorial donations in Mrs. Mitchell's honor may be made to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) mailing address: MADD NY, 33 Walt Whitman Rd., Suite #307, Huntington Station, New York, NY 11746 or by calling: 1 - (631) 547 - 6233. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.