Saying Goodbye

This is the obituary prepared for Roy’s passing and it will be sent out when arrangements are finalized.

John Roy Mitchell died on September 14, 2026 in Bryan TX as a result of liver cancer after a long fight against an inherited liver disease. He will be remembered with a Celebration of Life service at Friends Congregational Church later in the year (and if you attend, Roy requests that you wear your favorite baseball jersey or team colors). And I will post an announcement here for you too.

Born in Fort Stockton TX, Roy came to the university as a President’s Endowed Scholar after playing football, singing in the high school choir, and attending Boy’s State. Roy earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and economics and a Master’s of Arts in history from Texas A&M and completed all but the dissertation towards his doctorate in history studying Gilded Age banking and insurance. For more than two decades, he was an award-winning and much beloved academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Economics, and the School of Public Health at Texas A&M University. He enjoyed almost all types of music, keeping current, and could name the artist, the album, and ephemera about nearly any of them. He loved to read history, mysteries, and police procedurals, and had a talent for squirreling away trivia about the world around us. His allegiance in sports belonged to the Baltimore Orioles and the Crystal Palace Eagles. Along the way, he worked for Vinson & Elkins in Houston, and in Bryan-College Station at The Eagle news desk, as a graduate assistant in history and honors, and in the customer service booth at Safeway. Roy had a lively friend group online on “The Board” for more than twenty years. He participated in fantasy baseball and football regularly and his team, the Smirking Chupacabras, often won the competition. He loved to listen to evensong in the cathedrals in London, to hike in the mountains, and preferred the beauty of the high desert.

Roy is survived by his wife of 38 happy years, Laura Wimberley; his sister, Clair Mitchell Bass and brother-in-law Wendall; his sisters-and brothers-in-law Leslie and Dan Harper and Lisa and Derek Rude; his nephews Noah Harper, Joel Harper, and Kyle Rude; his nieces Meredith Harper, Katie Rude and Zoe Bass; and his parents-in-law, Russell and Linda Wimberley. He is preceded in death by his parents Fred Clair Mitchell and Shirlyn Shirley Mitchell.

Roy supported a number of efforts to address hunger, homelessness, and education over the years, but he most enjoyed the companionship of his cats and would prefer to be honored by donations in support of the animals at the Aggieland Humane Society or Bryan Animal Center, to help feral cats get care, TNR, or find homes through Six Kittens Rescue and the BCS Spay Neuter Project. Donations may also be given in his memory to the Friends Congregational Church Accessibility Fund in College Station to assist with building an accessibility ramp.

His ready smile, infectious laugh, gift for story-telling, and generous heart will be greatly missed.