Louise Mitchell

May 4, 1928 - May 20, 2021

Louise Mitchell was born on May 4, 1928 in Nyack, New York to James E. Baker and Laura Cherry Baker. She had one older brother, Melvin Baker. She lost her mother at the early age of 10 to cancer while living in Newark, New Jersey with her family. After this loss, she moved back to Holland, Virginia with her father and brother. Her father, not knowing how to take care of a 10-year old girl, made arrangements for Louise to stay with her aunt in Bertie County. She struggled after the loss of her mother and was moved around from home to home. As soon as she was old enough to leave North Carolina, she moved to Virginia and later to Baltimore, Maryland where she met and married Robert J. Coley and later divorced. She later married William “Pop Willy” Mitchell. Louise was a hard worker and later earned her license to become a daycare provider. She cared for children for over 30 years and made lasting relationships with them and their parents. She always had a soft spot in her heart for children and young people,often taking them in and caring for them as if they were her own. Louise was lovingly nicknamed “Lou” and “Weezy” by all who were close to her. She was preceded in death by her children Jeanette Coley, Deborah Harris, Donald Coley, Richard Coley, and Ronnie Salahu-Din. She leaves behind one maternal daughter, Diana Coley Hinton, in Belvidere, North Carolina; and Tracy McCullugh of Baltimore, Maryland. She is also mourned by her grandchildren Carlos Hamlin, April Blackwell, Corey Freeman, Tracie Bass, Derrick Hamlin, Tamiko Harris, Issa Coley, Natasha Holley, Otis Hamlin, Richard Dyer, Jasmine Slade, Tanya Hicks, Tony McBride, and John McBride, 15 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren.