Zoe E. Mitchell

Zoe Ellen “Dusty” Mitchell was the second of six daughters of Samuel Robert Mitchell and Clara Viola Schmidt Mitchell. She was born on September 14, 1922, in Altus, OK and she graduated from Altus, OK High School in 1941.

She departed this life, bound for her new home in Heaven, during the early morning hours of Thursday, January 6, 2011.

In 1944, she joined the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in 1946 as a pharmacist mate, 3rd class. She entered St. Francis School of Nursing in Wichita where she graduated in 1949. Thereafter, she became a nun and joined the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Oshkosh, WI in 1953.

Zoe Ellen headed the nursing staff at St. Michael’s Hospital, founded in 1913 by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Stevens Point, WI. Later, she transferred to St. John Hospital in Tulsa, OK.

In 1966, at the time of the death of her father, Zoe Ellen returned to Wichita to care for her aging mother. She transferred from Tulsa to Via Christi St. Joseph where she worked for about 20 years before retiring. During her time at St. Joseph Hospital, she was in charge of the design, development and operation of the first state-of-the-art Cardiac Care Unit in Wichita where many of her friends and co-workers knew her as “Dusty Mitchell.”

Zoe resided, for a time, with her sister, Berniece Duckett. In January 2004, both sisters moved in to Woodlakes Senior Residences in Wichita, KS. Zoe spent her final time on earth at Meridian Nursing and Rehab Center, cared for primarily by her nephew and wife, Robert E. and Doris Guthrie.

Zoe was preceded in death by her parents and by her four younger sisters: Mary Elizabeth Lacey, Sammie Darlene Peters, Laura Jeane Marney and Dorothy Helyn Ott Felderhoff, and by two of her nephews, William J. “Bill” (Helen) Duckett of Wichita, KS and Don W. (Val) Duckett of Wichita, KS.

She is survived by her older sister, Berniece M. Duckett of Overland Park, KS; nephews and nieces: Robert J. (Marilynn) Duckett of Blue Springs, MO; Dan (Jackie) Duckett of Overland Park, KS; Mike (Cindy) Duckett of Wichita, KS; Robert E. (Doris) Guthrie of Hutchinson, KS; Robert P. Peters of Tulsa, OK; Sherrie (Lawrence) Lee of Bartlesville, OK; James R. (Stacy) McFarlane of Wichita, KS; Vickie Babb of Wichita, KS; Joe Deavors of Hugo, OK; Dorothy Jeane Angelan of TX; Lester Logan of Austin, TX; Logan Murdoch of Wichita, KS; Cindy (Glenn) Morse of Richardson, TX; Kimberly Ott of Carrollton TX; James R. (Gina) Ott of Gainsville, TX; one cousin: Mary Alaine (Mark) Moore of Moore, OK; two niece in-laws, Helen Duckett and Val Duckett, both of Wichita, KS, and a host of great nieces and nephews.

A Graveside service will be held on Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at Resthaven Cemetery, 11800 W. Highway 54. Viewing on Friday afternoon, January 7, at Devorss Flanagan-Hunt Mortuary, 201 S. Hydraulic, Wichita, KS. Condolences may be left online at http://www.devorssflanaganhunt.com.