Mitchell, Rose McLaughlin 1886-1994

ROSE, HOTCHKIN, MCLAUGHLIN, GAUGHRAN

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 12/9/2012 at 17:43:00

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; July 14, 1994

ROSE MITCHELL

Rose McLaughlin Mitchell, 107, a native of Grinnell, died Sunday, July 10, at St. Elizabeth's Touluca Lake Convalescent Home in North Hollywood, Calif.

The funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 16, at Our Lady of Good Council in Los Angeles, with the Rev. Mott presiding. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, also in Los Angeles.

Mitchell was born to James and Rose Hotchkin McLaughlin December 30,1886, on a farm near Grinnell. At the time of her birth, the president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, had just recently dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York.

When she was 6, the family moved to Winterset. Later, in Des Moines, she worked with the maternal grandmother of Winterset native Michael Marion Morrison who later changed his name to John Wayne. Mitchell occasionally babysat for the future film legend.

She later married Sam Mitchell and the couple made their home in Grinnell until 1927, when they moved to Los Angeles. She worked as a seamstress at Bullock's Department Store there for 35 years until her retirement at the age of 77.

She achieved something of a celebrity status after entering her second century. Three years ago, for example, she was proclaimed "the Oldest Living Dodger" in a ceremony at Dodger stadium in L.A., and last year, she appeared on the "Today" show.

She was one of 40 grandchildren of her maternal grandparents, John and Rose Gaughran Hotchkin, pioneers of the Grinnell community who settled here January 1, 1869, 22 years after Iowa gained statehood. At the time of her death, she was the oldest of the more than 800 descendants of the Hotchkin family.

She is preceded in death by her parents; eight siblings; her husband; and one son, Sam Jr.