Carol Ann Mitchell
April 27, 1936-Aug. 8, 2026
Palo Alto, California

Carol Ann Clifford Mitchell died August 8, 2026, in Palo Alto, California, at the age of 90. She was born on April 27, 1936, in Ventura, California, the daughter of Mary Edith Jones Clifford and Charles Randall Clifford. Her parents moved back to Palo Alto, where she attended the local schools, enrolled at Stanford University , and graduated with a B.A. in psychology in 1957.

She married John Wright Mitchell in 1955, and in 1962 they moved with their three older children to Madison, Wisconsin. Although she had never lived in the upper Midwest before, she took to its climate and way of life. She enthusiastically participated in university activities, making many new and life-time friends. She and her family enjoyed canoeing the Wisconsin River and canoe camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in summer, and cross-country skiing and ice skating on Lake Wingra in winter. Always interested in politics, she was a strong supporter of the League of Women Voters. In 1982 she became involved in Beyond War, a national movement to educate people on the threat of nuclear war. She was an active member of the First Unitarian Society, and after her two younger children were born, she was a volunteer overseer for the nursery school.

In 1997 she became divorced and returned to live in Palo Alto. There she was active on the Board of Stanford Singles, edited their newsletter, and served on the Board of the Palo Alto Historical Association as their Oral History Chairman. Carol loved baking and cooking meals, mahjong, bridge, the opera, her senior hiking group, art, studying history, travel, and genealogy. She enjoyed learning about new technologies in order to keep up with her family. She was fond of visiting Carmel and the California coast. Later in life she took pleasure in walks in her neighborhood and at the Baylands. She always looked forward to spending time with friends and family, and her Paly and Stanford class reunions.

She leaves behind her five children: John Clifford Mitchell (Diane Frank), Christopher Wright Mitchell (Carol), Laura Mary Mitchell Schickli (Wright), Scott Alan Mitchell (Carissa), and Sarah Lynn Mitchell Cannarella. In addition, she is survived by eleven grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.