Former Bessie Rhodes Principal Passed Away Thursday

Former Principal Patricia Mitchell passed away yesterday of cancer, the district announced in an e-mail to the community.

"During her almost 30 years of service to District 65 families, Mrs. Mitchell touched the lives of so many," Communications Director Pat Markham wrote in the e-mail. "We offer our sincere condolences to her family and to the many faculty and staff to whom she was a friend and colleague."

Mitchell began working for District 65 in 1980 as a kindergarten aide and worked her way up to become a teacher, a central office administrator, and school principal, according to Markham. She was principal first at from 1991 to 1998, then moved over to become principal at Bessie Rhodes, where she remained until her retirement in 2009.

Mitchell's family will hold a private service for her, with a memorial planned in the future.