Barbara Jeannette Florence Mosley Mitchell was born on May 23, 1926, in
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was the youngest child of the Reverend Dr.
Thomas Arthur Mosley and Ethel Huggons-Brown Mosley, joining her brother, the
Reverend Dr. Ronald Arthur Mosley and sister, Elizabeth Ann Mosley Heyworth. Her
father was a Methodist preacher who moved after WWI from England to Canada. He
later moved to the New England Conference and retired as a member of the Florida
Conference.
Barbara studied nursing at Simmons College in Boston, intending to be a flight
nurse, but WWII ended. She then continued her college career at Florida Southern
College in Lakeland, which she had visited a child. She graduated in 1948 with a degree
in Christian education. During her college years, she joined First Methodist Church in
Lakeland, worked for the Reverend Warren Willis, and was on the conference youth
staff and team in Lakeland and Leesburg. Her first job after graduation was as youth and
Christian education director at Park Temple Methodist Church in Fort Lauderdale. In
1949 she became the first director of Christian education in the Florida Conference to
be consecrated.
She met a young pastor, Thomas Glenn Mitchell, at the Florida Annual Conference
in June 1949. He visited her in Fort Lauderdale in July and proposed. In August he visited
her at Martha's Vineyard and gave her the engagement ring. They were married on January 5, 1950, and when Tom died in
2009, they had been married fifty-nine years.
Barbara and Tom were seldom apart after their wedding. They had three children: Barbara Jeanne Mitchell Driscoll,
Thomas Glenn Bosley-Mitchell, and James Arthur Mitchell. Barbara is now an assistant state attorney, while Glenn and Jim are
pastors in the Florida Conference.
Barbara journeyed alongside Tom as a preacher's wife, often pursuing Christian education as Tom served in churches
throughout Florida and as associate council director for Ordained Ministry in Lakeland and district superintendent in
Tallahassee. Barbara served in conference leadership in many areas, including United Methodist Women, Family Ministries,
and Health and Welfare Ministries. She also was elected twice as a Jurisdictional Conference delegate. After Tom retired in
1990, they moved to their home in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Missing the grandchildren, they moved back to Lakeland.
Over the years Barbara had several careers, including director of Christian education, director of the Baptist Children's
Home in Lakeland, social worker for the State of Florida Division of Families and Children, director of a family counseling
practice, fill-in at the former Maas Brothers store, and occasionally public school teacher. She earned a Master of Social Work
degree from Barry College in Miami. Barbara was consecrated a diaconal minister in 1981 and retired in 1991. After
retirement she continued her community service as president of Lakeland Habitat for Humanity, United Methodist Women at
First United Methodist Church in Lakeland, and the Residents Association at Carpenters Estates.
Barbara died on November 6, 2013, at the Estates at Carpenters in Lakeland. A Celebration of Life was held at First United
Methodist Church in Lakeland, Florida, on November 18, 2013, with participation by her children and grandchildren. Bishop
Robert E. Fannin and Dr. Anne Kerr, president of Florida Southern College, also shared in the service, which concluded with
the playing of bagpipes. Barbara's earthly remains were placed to rest in the columbarium at First United Methodist Church,
Lakeland, next to her beloved Tom.
Barbara is survived by her brother and sister; her children: Barbara Driscoll, Glenn and Gaye Bosley-Mitchell, and Jim and
Nancy Mitchell; thirteen grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews
Submitted by: Barbara Mitchell Driscoll, T. Glenn Bosley-Mitchell, and James A. Mitchel