Johanna Mitchell

On Saturday evening 12/11/2021, Johanna Mitchell left this world due to complications related to dementia after 4 years of fighting magnificently to concur an unwinnable battle with the deadly disease. My son and I were fortunate enough to be with her as I stroked her face, told her again how much I loved her, and she drew her last breath with a tear in her eye. As a once confirmed bachelor, perhaps I will never completely process the loss. This wonderful woman for 40 years of marriage gave me and my son a wonderful life and allowed us to grow and get an understanding of what true love really is. Our primary secret to forty years of marriage “You be who you are, and I will be who I am”. We will respect each other as individuals and make adjustments as necessary in order to achieve Karma. No lasting positive relationship can be achieved without consensus.

Johanna was born February 8, 1945 on the island of Jamaica, in the beautiful hills outside Kingston. As a teenager she migrated to London, England to join her mother and three step-siblings. She later migrated again to the United States. In 1980 she settled in Oklahoma City where she started a new job and a new life. It was in 1980 that she met her future husband James Mitchell who himself had just arrived in Oklahoma City via the United States Air Force. As fate would have it, they lived in the same apartment complex in Midwest City, Ok, her apartment being directly above his. The two fell in love and one year later, July 4, 1981, the anniversary of their first meeting, they were married. Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a higher power. It does not matter what name you give it or how you choose to worship it, it does exist and it brought two wondering souls together. She needed a new life and I needed a life that extended beyond me.

Johanna worked at the Department of Corrections State of Oklahoma for 27 years as a Certified Procurement Officer. After retiring from the Department of Corrections, she worked part time for the Department of Tourism. Her hobby was flowers. It wasn’t until we put in a lawn sprinkler system that I realized we had eight flower beds in the yard, however we also had the most beautiful yard in the neighborhood. The down side to that was having people seeing me in the yard cutting the grass and asking if I was the Gardener and if I was for hire.

I have never known or heard of anyone who met Johanna that did not like or love her. She was the person that everyone just felt comfortable with and the one that I knew no matter what, she had my back.

Johanna was the absolute definition of motherhood. She loved our son Julian to the absolute depth of love. No mother could ever love a child more. There was nothing she would not do or sacrifice for either him or me. There is no greater love.

Oh my God Almighty I LOVED THAT WOMAN !