Funeral services to celebrate the life of Ramona Tate Mitchell, 85, will be on Sunday, March 23, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. at Tutor Memorial Funeral Home in Pontotoc, MS followed by a burial at Baldwin Memorial Gardens in Pontotoc, MS. Visitation will be at the funeral home from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. before the service. Ramona passed away on Sunday, March 16, 2025.
Ramona lived a good, long life surrounded by a loving family. She was the oldest of three children born to Harold and Martha Dale Tate of Brewer, MS. She graduated from Shannon High School as the Salutatorian in 1957 and from Delta State University in 1961. At Delta State, she met and fell in love with James Ronald Mitchell. They married on August 20, 1961. In 1963, their only child, Audrey Leigh Mitchell, was born. They made their first home in Indianola, MS, before moving to Clarksdale, MS, where James was a salesman and farmer, and she was a high school math teacher. They retired and moved to the Batesville, MS area and, later, moved to their final home in Pontotoc, MS in 2007.
Ramona was a woman of many talents and great strength. She loved teaching math and touched thousands of lives over her 27-year teaching career. In her retirement, she loved to crochet Christmas ornaments and snowflakes. She made many decorations for their family home. Perhaps her favorite things to make were lap afghans for those in hospice, angel blankets and preemie caps for infants who died at or near birth, and cancer caps for women undergoing treatment for cancer. She made hundreds of small, crocheted hearts, shamrocks, bunnies, and angels to give as gifts and “thank yous” as she journeyed through life.
For over 20 years, Ramona and James hosted their extended families in their home for the 4th of July. These events allowed Ramona to share her crafts, hospitality, food, and love with family and friends from years past. After James died in 2018, Ramona began traveling with Audrey and Billy covering 20 states and several countries across three continents. Ramona got her first passport and went on her first international trip (a cruise) to the Western Caribbean in 2018. They went to Gatlinburg, TN, Helen, GA, and the Biltmore in 2019. In 2021, they traveled to The Ark Encounter, Creation Museum, Cincinnati Zoo, and watched the Bengals and Kansas City compete in a bowl game. In 2022, Ramona took a jeep tour through the Rocky Mountains and “climbed” to the top Pike’s Peak on a trip out West. They took two additional cruises in 2023, and Ramona took her first flight in 2023 to London to visit where James was stationed during the Korean War (they squeezed in the Netherlands, Norway, and Iceland after crossing the Arctic Circle in the cold North Sea). They went to Hawaii (Pearl Harbor) in 2024 to see where her father served in WWII, and had a trip to Florida and another cruise planned later in 2025.
While her earthly travels are over, she made her final journey to Heaven on March 16, 2025 (3:16 Day) to join others who have gone on before her, including her parents, husband, and other family and friends. She is survived by her favorite daughter and son-in-law, Audrey and Billy Morehead, her brother Mike (Nan) Tate, Judy Hester, and several nieces and nephews.
