FAIRHAVEN -- Marian Price Mitchell, 87, of Fairhaven died Thursday, May 13, 2004, at Our Lady's Haven Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center after a period of declining health. She was the widow of attorney Raymond McKim Mitchell; they were married 60 years.
Born in Pittsburgh, she was the daughter of the late Thomas J. and Eleanor (Hughes) Price. She was a resident of Fairhaven since 1940.
She was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, receiving her bachelor of arts degree in English in 1938. She completed graduate coursework in journalism at the University of Pennsylvania.
For many years, Mrs. Mitchell was a journalist with The Standard-Times. While living in Pennsylvania, she was employed by the Coatesville Record.
She was a major in the Women's Army Corps during World War II, serving in the Allied occupation of Japan.
She was a founding member of the New Bedford area American Field Service International Scholarship Program and hosted sons of Italy, Austria and Japan.
She was an active member of the Unitarian-Universalist Society, a past president of the ladies branch of the New Bedford Port Society and a former chairman of the Fairhaven-New Bedford Tosashimizu Sister City Committee. She received the Outstanding Achievement award given by the Fairhaven Improvement Association.
A volunteer in public relations for many nonprofits in Greater New Bedford, she was the first director of public relations in the 1950s at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford.
Survivors include two sons, Douglas James Mitchell of Madison, Wis., and Charles McKim Mitchell of Fairhaven; her daughter, Anne M. Murcek of Lewisburg, Pa.; her AFS sons, Antonangelo Pinna of Rome, Rudolf Merten of Vienna, Austria, and Toshihiro Takagaki of Tokyo; a sister, Janet Bolles of San Francisco; and nine grandchildren.
She was the sister of the late Thomas J. Price Jr. and Helen P. Wymer.
Her memorial service will be at 12 p.m. Friday May 21, 2004 in the Unitarian Memorial Church, Fairhaven, Ma.