Obituaries

In Remembrance: Warren W. Mitchell ’47E Died on February 21 2019

Warren Woodbury Mitchell, 92, died surrounded by loving family on February 21, 2019, in Kennebunk, Maine, of advanced age and the ravages of dementia. He was born on August 23, 1926, in Peking, China, the son of Myron Atwood Mitchell and Florence Colby Mitchell, while his father was working for Standard Oil Company of New York in China.

When he was 12 years old, Warren and his mother were repatriated to the United States with other dependents of foreign workers due to the threat of the Second Sino-Japanese War. His father continued to work in China, and after the outbreak of World War II, he was taken into custody by Japanese officials in Manila, Philippines and interned at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila for two years.

Having begun his education at the Shanghai American School in Tientsin, China, Warren attended the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduation from Lawrenceville, he enrolled at Yale University, graduating with a bachelor of engineering degree and a naval commission in 1947.

He was hired by the engineering department of Standard Oil Company of California (now Chevron Corporation) in 1947. Over a four-decade career there (except for a three-year hiatus while on loan to Aramco Overseas Company in The Hague, The Netherlands), he performed and supervised designs of petroleum industry facilities and managed projects, mostly related to civil engineering. He retired as senior supervising engineer.

A Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society conferee, Warren held professional engineer licenses in Texas, Hawaii, New Jersey, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. He was a registered civil engineer in California and Louisiana, and a registered structural engineer in California. A life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, and a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, he chaired the American Petroleum Institute Work Group on Earthquake Criteria for Fixed Offshore Production Platforms.

Warren purchased a cottage on aptly named Pleasant Pond in Caratunk, Maine, following his retirement. He thoroughly enjoyed spending time at “P Pond” with friends and family. In 2007 he and wife Joanne purchased a home in The Villages in Florida, learned to play golf, and made new and lasting friends.

Warren is survived by his wife Joanne Bayreuther Mitchell of Kennebunk; daughter Joyce Mitchell Satzer (husband William) of Eagan, Minnesota; stepchildren William A. Bayreuther III (wife Gari), Todd P. Bayreuther, Anne Bayreuther Schaub (husband Mark), and John M. Bayreuther (wife Jessica); grandsons Michael Satzer and David Satzer; step-grandchildren Russell Bayreuther, Addie Bayreuther, Luke Sweeney, Aron Bayreuther, Mark Schaub, John Schaub, Bennett Schaub, William Schaub, Gavin Bayreuther, Morgan Bayreuther, Beckham Bayreuther, and Jackman Bayreuther, and step-great-grandchildren Noah Logan, Olivia Bayreuther, Finn Sweeney, and Julie Schaub. He was predeceased by his first wife, Lorraine Anderson Mitchell.

His family, who treasure the fact that this gentle and generous man enriched their lives, will hold a memorial service for Warren at The Forks West Forks Congregational Church, UCC in West Forks, Maine at a date yet to be determined.

—Submitted by the family.

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