Lakewood Lore

Lakewood loses a respected leader in Mitch Darling

Mitchell W. Darling, one of Lakewood's most beloved and admired community leaders, died Saturday at his home after a long illness. He was 83.

Memorial services were held Wednesday at First United Church of Christ in Lakewood, with the Rev. William Nelson officiating. Burial was in Strongsville Cemetery.

His passing inflicts a special heart-tug in the community, where hundreds knew him as "Mitch" and admired him for his indomitable spirit.

Despite being sightless since he was 8, and also beset by impaired hearing, Mitch gained a notable reputation as a volunteer worker and civic leader in the community, serving as president of the Jaycees and later the Kiwanis Club.

He was named to Lakewood High School's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 1987.

As an outstanding motivational speaker with a humorous flair and a remarkable store of Lincoln lore, he will be remembered by thousands of grownups whom he addressed during the years they were pupils in Lakewood classrooms.

Mitch founded the annual Kiwanis Lenten Breakfast Series in 1973, organized and chaired Lakewood's Brown-Baggers Bible Study Group, was a longtime trustee of the Cleveland Sight Center, and acted as coordinator for the Greater Cleveland Blind Golfers League.

He was a trustee of Lakewood's First United Church of Christ and also held numerous lay posts there at various times. He was a Mason and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

In recent years, Mitch's life was on hold. Ill health limited his activities. Contact with friends at Kiwanis and elsewhere was mainly by phone. He became housebound and eventually bedridden.

Mitch lost his sight in his native Niagara Falls, N.Y., in 1921, when high fever from childhood disease damaged his optic nerve. Four years later, his parents brought him here, so he could attend widely recommended braille classes offered by Cleveland area public schools.

Mitch hung tough, like a tree growing out of a crevice in a rock on the side of a cliff. He rose on the academic ladder, earning a diploma from Lakewood High School in 1934, a bachelor's degree from Miami University at Oxford in '38, and later a master's degree in education from Ohio State University.

He then went on to become a husband, father and successful underwriter in Lakewood for New York Life Insurance Co., which he joined in '40 and retired from in '75.

Mitch married Alice Curtis, a librarian and Lakewoodite, in 1948. She survives him, together with their daughter Sally (Mrs. Jan January) of West Park; three grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; a brother, William of Dallas, Texas, and a sister, Ida Milne of Clearwater, Fla.

Mitch's invincible nature, his perpetually optimistic approach to life and his keen sense of humor were a great inspiration to his many friends. He regularly telephoned his host of acquaintances on their birthdays just to cheer them up.

As a raconteur, one of his favorite stories was about a man who tired of always bearing the same cross, and who went to a cross maker to exchange it for another.

The cross maker said to him, "We have all shapes and sizes here. Take your time, look around and pick the one you like best."

After examining every cross in the selection, the man chose one and asked to buy it.

"Fine," replied the cross maker, "but do you realize you have chosen the same one you brought in?"

Mitch not only volunteered his oratorical services, but also obtained outside speakers for Kiwanis meetings.

In the opinion of some of his follow Kiwanians, chances are he has already been button-holed for the job of program chairman in Chapter Eternal.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post February 20, 1997. Reprinted with permission.

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