[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 20 (Monday, February 2, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN HONOR OF JEAN BOOTH MITCHELL

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                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 2, 2009

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Jean 
Booth Mitchell of Carmel, California. Jean was a remarkable woman who 
enlivened everybody and everything she touched. Jean passed away on 
January 19, 2009 at age 91, leaving the world a brighter and better 
place.
  Jean was born in 1917 in Oakland, California, and was raised in 
nearby Piedmont. She received her education at the prestigious UC 
Berkeley, where she was a member of the sorority Delta Gamma. The 
university is also where she met William F. Mitchell, who she married 
in the Piedmont Community Church garden in 1940.
  Jean had the greenest of green-thumbs. She was a member of the 
Piedmont Garden Club, Piedmont Beautification Foundation, and Garden 
Club of America. Jean was also a founder of the Carmel-by-the-Sea 
Garden Club and its first president. She found great fulfillment in the 
Club's campaign to ``save'' Carmel's Piccadilly Park, home to a host of 
rare and unique plant species. Jean's personal garden was also one of 
the earliest featured on the Garden Club of America website at the 
Smithsonian.
  Though gardening was her passion, Jean also involved herself in high-
end real estate. She and her family established a real-estate firm in 
Carmel known as The Mitchell Group. In real estate sales, Jean was 
described as ``dynamic, convincing, and indefatigable.'' Before being 
sold to Sotheby's International Realty in 2005, the company had 
expanded to five offices and 140 agents.
  Madam Speaker, Jean Booth Mitchell planted seeds not only in soil, 
but in the hearts of everybody who had the good fortune of knowing her. 
I am certain that I speak for the entire House in extending our 
heartfelt sympathies towards Jean's three children, three 
granddaughters, and six great grandchildren, including Bill and Vicki 
Mitchell of Pebble Beach, Sheri Mitchell of San Francisco, Shelly and 
Dan Lynch of Carmel, John and Karen Mitchell of St. Helena, Sarah and 
Chris Hansen of Napa, and Hallie Mitchell Dow and Brad Dow of Carmel.

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