William Frank "Bill" Mitchell

William Frank "Bill" Mitchell died on September 23, 2011 at Providence Newberg Hospital. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 10 a.m. at the McMinnville Covenant Church. Interment will be private. William Frank "Bill" Mitchell was born on March 14th, 1940 in Pine Bluff Arkansas to Harold Frank and Reba Lee Mitchell. Bill grew up in Pine Bluff with an older brother and a younger sister. He was involved in sports and music throughout his school years. He played basketball in high school and attended Henderson State Teachers' College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas on an athletic scholarship graduating in 1963 with a BS in Psychology. Bill married Dores Martin on December 5th, 1964. They raised two children in Arkansas and Texas. Bill pursued post graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at Texas Christian University. He worked in human resources in the insurance, oil and gas and banking industries in Dallas, Little Rock and Houston and started William F Mitchell Associates, a human resources consulting firm in 1977. From 1984 to 1987 Bill and Dores were missionaries for the Presbyterian church assigned to a hospital in Tshikaji, Zaire. They relocated to Casper, Wyoming in 1988 and Bill worked in banking and consulting and served as moderator at First Baptist Church of Casper and at the Casper Rescue Mission. Bill and Dores returned to Africa to serve in leadership positions with a variety of organizations: in Cameroon with the World Council of Credit Unions, in Mozambique with Food for the Hungry International and in Jordan and Iraq with Airserv International. In 2006 Bill became the African Regional Director for Medical Teams International and he and Dores moved to McMinnville, Ore. He was named Executive Director of GeoAid International in 2008. "Papa Bill" is survived by Dores Martin Mitchell, his wife of 47 years (McMinnville, Ore.), his children, Bryce Mitchell (Jennifer) of Bend, Erin Thomas (Keith) of Beaverton, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild, his brother, Dr. Harold E. Mitchell of Pine Bluff Arkansas, sister, Margaret Murchison of Augusta, Georgia and numerous nieces and nephews. Memorial gifts in Bill's honor may be made to GeoAid International (www.geoaid.org) or Peacemaker Ministries (www.hispeace.org).