A Celebration of Life Service for Willie Ruth Mitchell, 77, of Marshall will be held at 2:00pm Friday, March 11, 2016 in the Chapel of Downs Funeral Home. Interment will immediately follow in Rose Hill Gardens Cemetery. Visitation will take place from 6:00pm to 8:00pm Thursday, March 10, 2016 at Downs Funeral Home. Ms. Mitchell passed away Friday, March 04, 2016 at her home with her loving family by her side.

Willie Ruth Mitchell was born March 10, 1938 to Sam York and Magnolia Patterson in the Longridge Community of Harrison County. Raised a Methodist, later in life she joined Emmanuel Seventh Day Adventist Church of Marshall. Willie Ruth worked many years as a CNA at Suburban Acres Nursing Home. She was a hard working woman who put her family first, working to ensure her family was always well provided for. She loved working in her yard, traveling and cruising. Willie Ruth had an adventurous soul; she enjoyed trying new things like parasailing and riding rollercoasters. You could often find her volunteering at her church helping everyone she could. For 31 years, she devoted herself to her loving husband. Willie Ruth Johnson married John L. Mitchell, February 20, 1955. They loved and took care of one another until his passing.

Those left to cherish the memory of Willie Ruth Mitchell are her children, Gerald W. Mitchell and wife, Frankie of Longview, Barbara A. Mitchell of Marshall, and John D. Mitchell and wife Ruth of Arlington; four grandchildren, Briana Mitchell, Jermaine C. Mitchell, Christopher B. Mitchell, Leah Bush and husband, Willie; four great-grandchildren, Trinity Jacobs, Israel Jacobs, Jayden M. Mitchell, Khloe B. Mitchell and one more on the way. Also surviving Willie Ruth are a host of sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law, and loving friends.

Preceding her in death are her parents, Sam York and Magnolia Patterson; husband, John L. Mitchell; brother, L.K. York; and sister, Bobbie Wright.