James Mitchell

James Thomas "Jim" Mitchell, 84, died at 4:40 p.m. August 5, 2008, at Lima Memorial Health System. He was born December 22, 1923, Adair County, Oklahoma, to Samuel Leonard and Nora Mary Testerman Mitchell, who preceded him in death. On July 19, 1952, he married Mary M. Morton, formerly of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania who died February 27, 2006. On December 31, 2006, he married Laura Sommer Rado, who survives in Lima, Ohio. Dr. Mitchell retired after 41 years from Westinghouse Electric Corp., where had been a fellow engineer scientist in the electrical systems divisions. In 1953, he converted the company's aircraft motor design process from slide rule to computer using IBM punch cards. Concepts he created and developed at Westinghouse resulted in five patents, for which he received an award in 1983. He also developed hybrid thick-film circuits used in generators in the Space Shuttle program. In 1985, he received Westinghouse's Engineering Achievement Award for advancing high-temperature, lightweight capacitors for aircraft electrical systems. He was honored in 1990, for historic engineering achievements in modern capacitor technology for Westinghouse. He also taught engineering in the master's program at the University of Pittsburgh, mathematics at OSU-Lima and mentored science students at Ohio Northern University. Following his retirement, he was a consultant for Sundstrand Aerospace and was a substitute teacher at Elida and other Allen County schools for more than 10 years. He was a member of Market Street Presbyterian Church, where he was a deacon and head usher. He received his bachelor's degree in 1950 in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, and his master's degree in 1955, from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1963, he was appointed to the Westinghouse Doctoral Program and received his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1968 from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He was an Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, serving as a corporal from 1943 to 1946, with the 1944th Ordnance Ammunition Company in India and Burma (Myanmar). Survivors also include a daughter, Mary Mitchell, of Dobbs Ferry, NewYork; three stepdaughters, Sally Duval and Sandi Good, both of Lima, Ohio, and Nancy Dygert, of Branson, MIssouri; and six step grandchildren and two step great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Alton Conrad Mitchell and John Joseph Mitchell; four sisters, Ruby Cavin, Lilly Lucy Phillips, Bessie Bernice Stafford and infant Minnie Mitchell. Services will begin at 11 a.m. Monday at Market Street Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Susan T. Reichenberg will officiate. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery, with military rites by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1275. Friends may call from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Chamberlain-Huckeriede Funeral Home and one hour prior to services Monday at the church. Memorial contributions may be made to the Mitchell Scholarship Foundation, c/o Elida High School, 101 E. North St., Elida, OH 45807; or the memorial fund at Market Street Presbyterian Church.