[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 138 (Thursday, November 13, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN CELEBRATION OF THE REV. JIMMIE L. MITCHELL

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 13, 2014

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my 
sincerest congratulations and Happy Birthday wishes to the Reverend 
Jimmie L. Mitchell, who celebrated her 90th birthday on Tuesday, 
October 7, 2014. On Sunday, October 12, 2014, family, friends, and 
members of Good Shepherd Deliverance Church gathered to celebrate her 
birthday at Receptions for You in Thomasville, Georgia.
  Ollie Jimmie Lee Mitchell was born in 1924 to Mr. Jim and Mrs. Wessie 
Wilkerson of Thomas County, Georgia. Family and friends felt, even at 
that time, that Rev. Mitchell was destined to do great things for God. 
However, because of her mother's premature death, Rev. Mitchell had to 
take on adult responsibilities when she was just thirteen. She and her 
sister, Willie Mae Simon, helped raise their young sister and five 
brothers. Having overcome these difficult times together, Rev. Mitchell 
and Willie Mae Simon were inseparable until October 2009 when Willie 
Mae Simon died.
  Growing up, Rev. Mitchell experienced some very difficult and abusive 
years that would have devastated any human being but she nevertheless 
maintained her strength and faith in God and He blessed her and led her 
to her true purpose.
  At 20 years old, she married Willie Mitchell, Sr. and they settled 
down in Thomasville, Georgia after he was discharged from the U.S. 
Army. They had ten children, but one died at birth. Rev. Mitchell was 
known for her very conservative and strict parenting style. She trained 
her family to treat all people equally regardless of color or gender. 
She taught her children to value education, love family, live by faith, 
and study and work hard to achieve their dreams. Those nine children 
have blessed her with 24 grandchildren, 4 step-grandchildren, 26 great-
grandchildren, and 4 great, great-grandchildren.
  When she was about 32 years old, Rev. Mitchell attended a prayer 
meeting at her next door neighbor's house, where she met Evangelist 
Mella Lawyer who led Rev. Mitchell to Christ and later became one of 
her dearest friends. Rev. Mitchell became a member of Saints Temple 
Holiness Church in Thomasville, where she actively participated in many 
ministries and became a missionary. Rev. Mitchell accepted her call 
into the ministry in 1963, becoming one of the first ordained women in 
Thomas County. She established Good Shepherd Deliverance Church the 
following year. In the fifty years since then, she planted more than 
seven churches throughout the state of Georgia and traveled throughout 
the nation to minister God's grace to all.
  George Washington Carver once said, ``How far you go in life depends 
on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, 
sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong 
because someday in your life you will have been all of these.'' Rev. 
Mitchell has gone far in life because her everlasting faith in the Lord 
is vivid testimony of His greatness to all whom she encounters. A woman 
of determination and perseverance, she has a special spiritual talent 
for getting closed doors to open. Her love and commitment to Christ is 
reflected in her compassionate leadership, which makes her a guiding 
light within the community.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending our best 
wishes to an outstanding spiritual pioneer, the Reverend Jimmie L. 
Mitchell. She is truly a woman of faith whose heart never stops giving 
and whose hands never stop serving the people of her church and her 
community of Thomasville, Georgia.

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