My friend, Tony Mitchell, has passed. In fact, he passed earlier this very day - just as I was finishing up this particular story about him for my online column, in hopes that he would get to read it.
I would call Tony blessed. Yes, even now, I would still refer to him as an extremely blessed man.
When I visited him at his home recently, Tony’s dear wife and son and daughter-in-law met me at the front door and so graciously invited me in to visit. The care and compassion and love in their eyes was full. Love is like that. It cannot stay contained. Love always finds a way to burst forth.
Yet their eyes were also sad. When we know that someone we love does not likely have long left with us, we who love them become sad. As well we should. As the late Queen Elizabeth so wisely put it, “Grief is the price we pay for love.”
I could highlight Tony’s lifetime teaching/coaching career in Bristol here, I suppose. And maybe I should. But I’d rather write more about the highly honorable personal attributes of the man himself. When one remembers someone, we usually don’t remember their careers so much as we remember the moments.
Special. Moments.
In our good town over the years I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across someone who was taught or coached by Tony Mitchell. In all those encounters I never once had anyone tell me that Mr. Mitchell (or Coach Mitchell) helped them learn how to solve a particular math equation. Or how to hit a baseball harder. However, all these souls were universally adamant about their deep affection and love for their old teacher/coach. Love and affection - they ultimately last longer and travel farther within our souls than any remembered math fact or home run.
Tony’s son, Chase, took a pic of Tony and I together when I visited recently. I won’t post it here because Tony’s suffering is visible in it. Yet Tony is smiling, as always. And in spite of his pain, one can also readily see in the pic that Tony’s eyes are filled with his ever-present down-home-immensely-sincere-friendliness and love for everyone.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Hometownstories.org to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.