Frank Benjamin Mitchell Jr.

Frank Benjamin Mitchell Jr. passed away on September 13, 2021 at the age of 74 in Roswell, Georgia. After several months of declining health, Frank died with his beloved wife of 50 years, Gloria, by his side.

Frank was born on December 2, 1946 in Jacksonville, Florida to father Frank Benjamin Mitchell Sr. and mother Helen Mitchell. He attended primary and high school in Jacksonville and went to college at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He joined the Army in 1968 and went on to command infantry units in Vietnam for over a year, reaching the rank of First Lieutenant. He later received his master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in Project Management.

For the next forty years he worked on construction projects all over the world as an International Project Executive. He built hospitals, laboratories, office buildings, banks and other high security facilities such as embassies and consulates. After he retired, he began his second career as a writer. He is the author of five published books including American Pathfinder, Pathfinder’s Pyramid, Pathfinder’s Passage, Attack at Khoda Bridge and Attempt in Tehran. He was working on several other books that have not yet been published. He greatly enjoyed writing his books and was working up to the day he passed away. He based his books all over the world – gathering inspiration from his extensive travels while in the construction industry. Anyone who visited him during his writing career would be treated to a lengthy discussion related to his current book. Even when he couldn’t physically travel any longer, he was always going to some far-off place using Google maps or his history reference books.

When his daughters were school age, he was always willing to be a coach for whatever sport they were playing at the time. If he couldn’t be a coach, he would provide research and ideas to assist however he could. He loved fly-fishing and in earlier years spent many days wading trout filled rivers both in the Southeast and out West. He enjoyed spending time with his grand children and always had a special place in his heart for his dog(s) and ‘grand dogs’.

He is survived by his wife, Gloria Mitchell; his two daughters, Betsy (Parker) Hirons of Tampa, Florida and Katherine (Kent) Knowles of Roswell, Georgia; sister Virginia (Don) Hutcheson of Franklin, Tennessee; his four grandchildren, Deane and Palmer Hirons of Tampa, Florida and Jane and Henry Knowles of Roswell, Georgia.

A family celebration of life will be held at the Georgia National Cemetery in November of 2021. People wishing to honor his life and his dedication to the armed services can make donations to the Wounded Warrior Project.