It’s no secret that a life well lived is full of all kinds of experiences, both good and bad. Veteran John Mitchell has certainly led a well-lived life–he’s leapt at unique opportunities, faced many hardships, and achieved incredible feats. The culmination of these experiences has taught him the values of perseverance and love, invaluable lessons of life that he’ll cherish forever.
Mitchell’s fulfilling life began during his childhood. His family moved around quite a bit, so he spent plenty of time living in all kinds of different places and trying new things. Throughout his 12 years of schooling alone, he attended eight different schools. He eventually graduated from Crown Point High School.
After high school, Mitchell went to Purdue University to study game management, a division of forestry, but after two years realized he wasn’t interested anymore. Rather than trudging through, he decided to drop out. Soon after, he enlisted in the Air Force and was put under the electronics category.
Mitchell went to Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois for his technical training. Once he completed his training, he got to make a dream sheet of where he would like to be stationed. He asked to serve in England or Germany, but life had other plans. Mitchell was sent to Vietnam.
Mitchell spent three months at Tan Son Nhut Air Base and spent nine months at Da Nang Air Base. There, he worked as an aerospace ground equipment maintenance repairman, which was something he never thought he would do.
“We worked on the equipment that they use to service the aircraft. There were big lights that they pulled out on the runway and there were compressors, air conditioners, bomb lifts, and all kinds of things we had to maintain so they could work on the aircraft. It was kind of funny because I’m not very mechanically inclined,” chuckled Mitchell.
Eventually, Mitchell was transferred to Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana where he spent two and a half years in charge of base supply ordering. He even attained the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Once his time in the Air Force came to an end, Mitchell set out for the next phase of his life. He came back, got married, and eventually decided that he wanted to give college another go. He went back to Purdue University to earn his bachelor's degree in Broadcasting.
Life isn’t always easy, though. After graduating, Mitchell had a hard time finding work in his field. Rather than let life get him down, Mitchell decided to pursue a new career path. He started working at Graver Tank as an assistant timekeeper, and after just a couple of months was offered a junior buyer position. He worked his way up, switched companies a few times, and ended up spending quite a bit of his career working at the New York Blower Company in La Porte.
Now retired, Mitchell has many hobbies. His biggest hobby, though, is writing children’s books. Mitchell has always been an avid book lover, so one day when his neighbor told him a sweet story about their two cats taking care of each other, Mitchell knew he just had to write it down. He took the story to one of his friends who loved to draw, and the rest was history. Since then, Mitchell’s written and self-published several books including “Something Smells Fishy” and “Emily Learns About Christianity.”
Mitchell’s wife is a retired teacher, so one of his favorite things to do is to take his books into classrooms and read them to the kids. It brings both him and the kids so much joy.
“It's always a delight to see them and work with them and hear what they have to say about the book. They always have the most off-the-wall questions,” said Mitchell.
When Mitchell isn’t writing he loves to collect stamps and autographs. He actually has the autograph of each Apollo astronaut that walked on the moon. He’s also very involved in his church—he’s been an elder, a deacon, and a Sunday school teacher.
Mitchell has ultimately done so many different things in his life. He went from being a college dropout to serving in the Air Force to being a children’s author.
“You just got to go with the flow and when life gets you down, you have to pick yourself back up and keep on keeping on. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel somewhere even if you don’t see it for a while. It’s there,” said Mitchell.