Extracted from The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)
Thursday, March 25, 2004

Mitchell always put her family first

Though she didn't brook any foolishness, when it came to her family, Fannie Mae Mitchell pulled out all the stops.

Mitchell, 88, died Monday in Gulfport. A native of Six Mile of River Bend in Bibb County, Ala., Mitchell had lived in Gulfport since 1938.

``It was a little bend in the river six miles from the county seat,'' said Gulfport resident Jim Voivedich, who is married to Mitchell's daughter, Linda.

``She came from a country family,'' said Terry Mitchell Sr., one of Mitchell and her husband of 62 years, Jimmie Mitchell's, two sons. ``She was the baby. She had eight older brothers. One was born in 1892.''

A devout Catholic who attended both St. John and St. James Catholic Churches in Gulfport, Mitchell enjoyed spending time with the Sisters.

``Mobile, Natchez, Pensacola, New Orleans, she drove those Sisters from St. John anywhere they needed to go,'' said Terry Mitchell Sr.

Jimmie, Mitchell's husband, was a direct descendent of two of the more populous clans on the Coast.

``My grandmother was a Dedeaux, and she married a Mitchell. Those are two of the oldest names here in Gulfport,'' said Terry Mitchell Sr. ``Family always came first. She always found money for presents for the kids.''

Yet that didn't stop Mitchell from sternly disciplining Terry and his brother, Travis, when a squabble broke out.

``My drill instructor at Parris Island didn't have anything on Fannie Mae,'' said Terry Mitchell Sr., a former Marine.

Mitchell also stood side by side with her husband when it came to running the family's liquor businesses. Jimmie Mitchell sold bonded whiskey, launched the Cinderella Club on Highway 49 after WWII, and later owned M&M Package in Gulfport (M&M was short for Mitchell and Mitchell).

``She was by his side in everything he did,'' said Terry Mitchell Sr.

``She liked working in her yard, with her flowers, and she was a super-duper cook,'' said Voivedich. ``She never met anybody she didn't like. And she had a really nice smile.''