Obituary

Tanya Ranee Mitchell, 14, of Robin Avenue, died suddenly Tuesday, October 15, 1991. She had been a Naples resident four years coming from Denver, Colorado where she was born on May 22, 1977. She was a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church and a member of the Girl Scouts of America.
  She was an honor student at Lely High School where she had many friends.
  She was also an active member of the East Naples United Methodist Church Youth Group.
Tanya is survived by her parents, Teresa and Dennis Mitchell of Naples; her sister, Donelle Mitchell of Naples; her grandmother, Mary White of Aurora, Colo.; and her grandparents, Robert and Wilma Mitchell of Aurora, Colo.; her grandfather, Donald White of Abilene, Texas; and two great-grandmothers, Agnes Mitchell of Grants, N.M. and Louise Winklepleck of Aurora, Colo. She is also survived by many loving aunts, uncles, cousins and many loving friends at Lely High.
  A funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, 11:00 a.m. at St. Peter's Catholic Church with Father Kirk Mansell, officiating.
  The Rev. Dr. Montford C. Duncan of the East Naples Methodist Church will deliver the eulogy.
  Burial will follow at Naples Memorial Gardens.
  Friends may call at the Earl G. Hodges Funeral Chapel Thursday and Friday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. A prayer service will be conducted at the Hodges Chapel Friday 7:00 p.m. with Dr. Duncan, officiating.
  Tanya's love for live will be continued through the donation of her organs.
(October 1991)

Tanya Ranee Mitchell always helped others

  Dennis Mitchell drove his daughter to the bus stop Monday morning.
  "I kissed her goodbye," he said. "I told her I loved her. She said, 'Oh, Dad, I love you too.'"
  It was the last time he would see 14-year-old Tanya Ranee.
  On Monday, the teenager suffered a heart attack in the parking lot outside Lely High School. She died Tuesday.
  Now Dennis Mitchell thinks about cleaning out his daughter's locker at the school - and he cries.
  He thinks about her sense of humor, her caring, her determination - and he is proud.
  When she was 16 days old, doctors at the Denver hospital where she was born told her parents she probably wouldn't survive. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, her father said.
  But she did survive.
  "We took it hour by hour," Dennis Mitchell said. "Then it became day by day. She overcame many hurdles. Her life was going to be full of hurdles and milestones."
  Until she was 6 years old, she took medication to keep her heart condition under control. The condition is a viral infection of the heart muscle which causes it to enlarge, her father said.
  Then about two months ago, more tests showed Tanya had an irregular heart beat. She was going to be treated with digoxin for the next six months, her father said. The medication was supposed to help her heart beat more effectively and stronger.
  Tanya's death came as a shock to her family.
  She was walking a friend to the bus and heading back inside the school for her next class when she fell face down in the parking lot, her father said. Her breathing was shallow and she went into seizures, authorities at the scene told her family.
  Emergency workers started cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene immediately. At the hospital, medical personnel worked on her for another hour. Her father said they were able to get her heart beating again, but Tanya never regained consciousness. On Tuesday, her life support was removed and her organs donated and taken by a transplant team.
  Tanya, an honor student who moved to Collier County with her family four years ago, dreamed of going to the University of Miami and becoming a marine biologist or an underwater archaeologist, her father said. She was a Girl Scout, who enjoyed the outdoors and helping people.
  "She was always there if you needed her," her father said. "Always."
(by Naples Daily News staff)