Joe and Jane Mitchen, 70th Anniversary
Mrs. Mitchen is the former Jane Zazzi of San Francisco, Calif., and Joe is from Crossett, Ark. They met at Harding College, which is now Harding University in Searcy, Ark. Dean L.C. Sears performed the ceremony on campus in 1945.
Two of their sons and their wives sponsored an anniversary cruise to Bermuda, and on the anniversary date they arranged a small, quiet dinner attended by four of their children and their spouses, one granddaughter, and Jane’s sister and husband (Dorthy Z. and John Richardson) from Clarksville, Tenn.
While working for Olin Industries in New Haven, Conn., with two other brothers, Joe helped plant the church in West Haven, now the Hamden Church of Christ. In 1955, he began working in the research department of Ethyl Corporation, Baton Rouge, La., and in 1975 when the South Baton Rouge Church of Christ was formed, Joe was one of the first three elders, and Jane volunteered as the secretary.
After Joe retired from Ethyl Corporation and Jane retired from Louisiana State University, they moved to Texas where Joe served as an elder of the South Corpus Christi congregation. Jane began quilting blankets for families and babies at risk.
The Mitchens have six living children, 16 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
An interesting side note: Including the 70 years of Joe and Jane’s marriage, theirs and six children’s marriages add up to 370 years of marriage.
