Elmer Dean Mitchell

Visitation for Chelsea resident, Elmer Dean Mitchell, will be 4-8 pm Thursday, January 7, 2021, at Chelsea Funeral Home and Cremation Service. Funeral service will be 2:00 pm Friday, January 8, at Chelsea First Baptist Church. Dean passed away Monday, December 28, 2020, at the age of 82.
Dean was born July 13, 1938, at the old Franklin Hospital in Claremore to Elmer Sherman and Wauneta Bell Mitchell. He attended school in Bushyhead and Chelsea, graduating from Chelsea High School in 1957.
In 1958, Dean joined the Air Force, serving proudly until 1962. Meanwhile, he met the love of his life, Leta May Pilkington, and they married on April 9, 1960 in Bixby, Oklahoma.
After his millitary service, Dean worked at Ajax Die Casting and at McDonnell Douglas before taking a job at Radke Furniture in Chelsea, Oklahoma. Later he started Mitchell Backhoe and Trucking, then worked for Fuel Dynamics. While there, he was in a helicopter crash in September of 1976 that would change his life forever.
When Elmer and Wauneta were alive, Dean spent many Saturday nights at their home eating oyster stew and playing dominoes. He enjoyed plowing gardens and brush hogging on his tractor. Later on, he started mowing lawns and working on his lawn mower. Dean was a lifelong member of Chelsea First Baptist Church.
He never knew a stranger and always talked to everyone. He had the best stories, even if he did repeat them a time or two! You cold always spot Dean in his overalls at the Main Street Diner enjoying breakfast (or pie and Mountain Dew), and giving the waitresses a hard time. Of course, he said that all of the waitresses were "one of the good girls"!!
Dean was preceded in death by his parents Elmer and Wauneta Mitchell, and wife Leta May.
Survivors include his son Cris Mitchell and wife Wendi; daughter Tina Clark and husband Paul, all of Chelsea; grandchildren Sam Gregory of Spangdahlem, Germany, Cambree Barnett and husband Brandon of Owasso, OK, Abby Mitchell and McKenna Mitchell of Chelsea, Zach Clark of Claremore, and Hayden Clark of Chelsea; great-granddaughter Brighton Faith Barnett; siblings Betty Walker, Zeke Mitchell, and Judy Waldrup and husband Richard, all of Chelsea, and Debbie Gray and husband George of Ketchum; as well as many nieces and nephews. He will be missed!
View and sign Dean's online memorial at www.mmsfuneral homes.com.