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Loren Harold Mitchell 1942-1998

MITCHELL, DANIEL, WILLIAMSON, BLIESMER, MCCARTHY, HANSON, MEKOSCH, COOPER, HOUGH, COLEMAN, JORDAN

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 2/2/2014 at 23:54:28

Loren H. Mitchell
Estherville – Services for Loren Harold Mitchell, 55, of Carpinteria, CA., formerly of Estherville, will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Estherville with Reverend Wayne Smith and Pastor Paul Wiegman officiating. Interment at Estherville Lutheran Cemetery. He died on Sunday, Sept. 13, 1998 at Avera Holy Family Health Services in Estherville.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the Henry-Olson-Fuhrman Funeral Home in Estherville.

Mitchell was born on Sept. 27, 1942, the son of J. Lewis and Elouise (Williamson) Mitchell in Council Bluffs. He was Valedictorian of the Estherville High School Class of 1960, and graduated from Drake University in Des Moines in 1964, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1967, he graduated from Stanford University Law School, where he was editor of the Stanford Law Review. He served as a VISTA volunteer for one year.

He was united in marriage to Patricia Daniel on Oct. 10, 1975 at Elk Grove, CA. He was a pioneer in the provision of legal services to the poor. He designed and secured funding for the legal services programs for low income residents of Durham, N.C. and Brighton, CO.; and for the Legal Center for the Elderly in Sacramento, CA. When federal funds for legal services to low income families became scarce, he and his wife Patricia created the Legal Institute for Social Equality in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Sacramento. The Institute was funded entirely by private funds.

Among other significant public interest litigation, he sued the United States Census Bureau to enjoin the bureau from proceeding with the 1970 federal census on the grounds that the procedures proposed would seriously under-represent the Latino population of California. The federal court in San Francisco allowed the census to continue only if the bureau made significant changes to the forms and procedures for counting Latino residents of California and received substantial benefits from their decision of the next ten years.

The family moved to Estherville in 1981, where he was co-founder of Forest Ridge Community Youth Center and was engaged in the general practice of law until 1996, much of the time as a partner with Maynard Mohn and for the past year with John Kauer, an associate with the firm. He served as chairperson of the Emmet County Democrats and on the Emmet County Compensation Board. In 1996 Loren and Pat moved to Santa Barbara, where he was Associate Dean and Professor of Criminal Law at the Southern California Institute of Law.

He was a member of the Christ The King Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, enjoyed all sports, playing golf, writing for professional publications, writing a novel, collecting sports memorabilia and a marble collection. The Mitchells enjoyed live theater and arts.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia of Carpinteria, Ca.; five daughters, Mrs. (Lori) Ernest Bliesmer of Dunnell, Mrs. (Cathy) Tim McCarthy of Estherville, Mrs. (Laura) Tony Hanson of Richland, Ia., Shannon Mekosch of Carpinteria, Mrs. (Jessica) Jerry Cooper of Grimes, IA.; one son, Ryan Mitchell of Sioux City; a foster son, Larry Hough in Minnesota; 11 grandchildren; his mother, Elouise Mitchell of Estherville; two sisters, Mrs. (Sherrel) Darwin Coleman of Salem, OR. and Mrs. (Donna) Kenneth Jordan of Omaha.

He was preceded in death by his father, J. Lewis Mitchell. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, September 15, 1998)


 

Emmet Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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