Oscar Mitchell retired from the Leflore County School District in 2013, but he has stayed busy helping others in the community.
Mitchell, 69, is a native of Schlater and lifelong resident of Leflore County. As a teenager, one of his dreams was to go into the military, and he was drafted into the Army after graduating from Amanda Elzy High School in 1966.
“I wanted to go, but I didn’t know it was going to be during any kind of wartime or anything like that,” he said. “But I went.”
He ended up serving for two years, including a year as a grenadier in Vietnam. He said seeing the conditions there, including people raising hogs and chickens in their living quarters, made him appreciate the American way of life.
After returning, he entered Mississippi Valley State University, where he spent three years as a student before deciding he wanted to do something else.
“I like just being out and able to move around,” he said. “I didn’t want to be restricted.”
He had previously had an interest in electrical work, and he got to learn more about it on the job while working at the Leflore County School District. After teaching a woodworking class for a while, he spent about four years helping to make various upgrades around the district to improve its energy efficiency. From there, he went into maintenance, doing repairs on wiring, locks, doors, walls and other things for many years.
He said he liked the work and especially liked being able to do most of it independently.
“It’s almost like you’re on your own, and your work itself will determine what kind of person you are,” he said.
He did some carpentry and electrical work on the side by request, and he still does some of that today. He works mainly for longtime customers rather than taking on new ones.
“From about 9 to 12, I do little things; after 12, I try to be at home,” he said.
He also prefers small jobs that don’t have to be done in a hurry.
“Things that I can do within a day or two, I’ll do it,” he said. “Anything that’s going to take a lot of my time — a week or two or a month or something like that — I don’t fool with it.”
Mitchell also serves on the Sidon Board of Aldermen, which he was first asked to join about 25 years ago. A member of the board was leaving, and someone was needed to serve out her term.
“I had really just moved to Sidon,” he said. “I don’t know why they picked me, but they asked me if I would do it, and I said yes.”
He said the job can be frustrating at times; he found out early that it’s impossible to please all people in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. But he has found ways to handle the challenges, and he likes working with Mayor Johnnie Neal and the other board members, even though they don’t always agree. So he keeps putting his name in for re-election.
“It’s in my blood now,” he said.
Mitchell, a 32nd degree Mason, said he spends a lot of time in various activities at Hyman Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. He also works with Leflore County Community Health Advisors Men in Black and Blue Fighting Prostate Cancer. The group works to spread the word about prostate care, cholesterol, blood sugar and other health issues.
Often men “know they have problems, but they don’t want to know,” he said.
The group holds two health fairs a year. The most recent one was held Saturday at Monument of Grace Church in conjunction with Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. “If men would just come and get themselves checked, they would learn something about their bodies,” he said.
Sammy Foster, the president of the group, praised Mitchell’s work.
“He’s been very supportive,” Foster said. “When we do tasks like this in the community, he’s very active and involved.”
Mitchell and his wife, Gladys, have been married for about 23 years. They have two sons and three grandchildren. He enjoys watching television, playing computer games and traveling to the Gulf Coast every so often.
“You get to meet a lot of people sometimes from all over when you go there on the coast,” he said, “because you just have a steady flow of people coming in and out, and you like that.”
As for his own health, he said, “At this age, I’m doing good.”
He said he never considered moving out of the state or to a larger, crowded city.
“I like that small-town setting,” he said.
•Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
