Harry Mitchell, a former Tempe mayor and U.S. congressman, has died at the age of 86. Mitchell served as Tempe’s mayor for 16 years and was instrumental in the development of Tempe Town Lake. He later served in the Arizona Senate and two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his time in Congress, Mitchell supported the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
The Vice Mayor of Tempe, Arlene Chin, joined “Arizona Horizon” to reflect on Mitchell’s journey.
Chin said that Mitchell’s smile was “always of curiosity and interest”. This came through in his connections with people throughout the many roles that he took on in the Tempe community, Chin noted that Mitchell “got to know people”.
Chin has known him since high school when she served on the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee and even went to San Antonio with him and a group of teens to celebrate becoming an All America City.
She reflected on a questioned that was asked of her by a jury during the meeting in San Antonio. When asked how often she would actually see the former mayor, she said she blurted out, “anytime we want to”. Chin went on to explain why that was.
“He would always appear because of who we were, the youth commission, he was always especially interested. He spoke with each one of us individually, he was wonderful,” Chin said.
When Mitchell was elected to Congress, Chin said it was almost a moment of “history come alive for Harry”. Formerly teaching about government, Mitchell got to see what he was teaching about up close and it was also exciting for his former students, according to Chin
Mitchell’s legacy lives on not only through the lives’ he has touched but through the city he helped to shape. Chin noted that this goes beyond the architectural projects like Mill Ave, but the greater close-knit culture that can be felt in the city.
