Memorable Manitobans: Donald Ross Mitchell (1937-2007)

Civil servant, athlete, community activist.

Born at Calgary, Alberta in 1937, son of Wally and Kay Mitchell, he moved to Winnipeg in 1953 and started working of the City of St. James in 1958. With amalgamation into the City of Winnipeg in 1971, he progressed through the Water and Waste Department finishing in the Finance Department after completing a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of Manitoba in 1983. While working for the City, he helped to establish its Employee Benefit Plan. He retired in 1989.

He played hockey and other sports in Calgary before contracting polio in 1953. He remained athletic, winning medals in swimming, archery and table tennis during the 1967 Pan Am Paraplegic Games at Winnipeg. He also participated in swimming and wheelchair basketball in the Paraplegic Games in Montreal. He lobbied for wheelchair accessible stores, sidewalks and restaurants in the City of Winnipeg and he served for four years with the Manitoba Wheelchair Sports Association, serving as its President from 1968 to 1969. He was Chair of the Steering Committee for the formation of Branch #4 Victoria, of the Post Polio Society, and served a term as President.

He died at Victoria, British Columbia on 19 January 2007.

Sources:

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 27 January 2007.

“They left their mark”, Winnipeg Free Press, 30 December 2007, page B2.

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 15 November 2009

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