Jeanna Daniel
Mitch was my cousin and life long friend. As kids it was kind of like being raised with the Beaver on the show Leave it to Beaver. Mitch being the Beaver. Mitch even looked like the Beaver as a kid.
We had great fun doing what most kids did in those days, playing hide-and-seek, ghost on the loose, piggy want a motion which was a family game not everyone has likely heard of.
Mitch was smart. He was always in the smart class in grade school and he was funny he could always make you laugh. Mitch could draw good. For a long time we kept a notebook of pictures we drew. (Mitch's dad was a cartoonist. ) One of Mitch's claims to fame was that he was the founder and president of the Sheke-deke Club. You had to be able to give the sheke-deke yell and crawl through the drain pipe down by the city swimming pool, which always had worms in it. It wasn't an easy thing to do. However, that was the initiation to be in the club. All by Mitch's design. Sheke-deke was the safe word for my kids when they were little. If anyone could say Sheke-deke they were safe to get in the car and ride home with.
These last few years I spoke with Mitch pretty much daily. He loved the Lord and we usually wound our conversations up with what and who he needed to add to his already long prayer list. He prayed for all his nieces, nephews and cousins. He could call each of you by name. Mitch led a very meager, humble life but he so wanted to live, he was pretty amazing. I will surely miss him.
