John "Jack" Mitchell:
CLASS OF 1962
Guilford High SchoolClass of 1962
Greensboro, NC
Coleridge SchoolClass of 1962
Ramseur, NC
John "Jack"'s Story
In the fall of 1958 I entered Guilford High School as a ninth grader after my family relocated from Asheboro (where I had attended Coleridge School) to Greensboro.
Following graduation from GHS, I earned a B.S. in electrical engineering at N.C. State University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. Later I also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School and the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University.
In 1976 I married Elizabeth "Bette Len" Love of Lexington, NC, and we have two daughters, both of whom are college graduates. Our elder daughter is married to an executive of Carrier Global Corporation and now lives in Charlotte where she is associated with an angel investing group. Our younger daughter lives in Decatur, Georgia and is a second grade teacher.
After receiving my MBA, I was employed by BB&T for 12 years. Through the efforts of an executive recruiter, in 1979 I was hired as executive vice president of First National Bank & Trust Company of Tulsa, OK. In 1983 I returned to North Carolina as executive vice president and chief credit officer of Northwestern Bank. Northwestern merged with First Union in 1985, and my final 16 years in banking were spent with First Union (later Wachovia and now Wells Fargo Bank).
After 34 years in banking, the last seven of which I was chairman of First Union National Bank of Florida, I retired in 2001. Since retirement,my time has been spent writing and doing volunteer work with a number of not-for-profit organizations and Christian ministries. My volunteer work has included chairing the board of directors for the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, heading the corporate fundraising campaign to establish the I. M. Sulzbacher Ce...Expand for more
nter for the Homeless, and chairing the board of trustees for the Episcopal School of Jacksonville. I also served on the board of Enterprise Florida and on the national board of INROADS.
Jacksonville, Florida has been our home for 33 years, although we have a summer residence in Blowing Rock, NC and spend about four months a year there.
I have many fond memories of Guilford. It was an idyllic community during my high school years. Favorite hang-outs were the Boar and Castle (I still love "Castle Sauce"), Guilford Dairy, College Lake on the Guilford College campus, the soda fountain at Hoffman's Drug Store, and the skating rink on College Road. We walked or biked everywhere, even after dark, with no concerns about security or personal safety.
Close pals during high school included Brian Gaskill, John Higgins, Glenn Whaley, Gary Vance, David Lindley, Ed Smith, Tommy Edwards and David Sharp. I remember Friday afternoon football games (including manning the concession stand to raise money for our junior-senior prom), playing in a rock and roll band with David Lindley, Johnny Tilyard, and Frank Williamson (later known as The Eccentrics), Don Warren's algebra class, the gifted teaching of Dr. Kenneth Walker, baseball coach Jim Frye and basketball coach John Lambeth, principal Ernest Jenkins, after-lunch social gatherings on the front porch of the old high school building, and being a part of Guilford's first debate team (along with Brian Gaskill and John Higgins).
Perhaps with the passage of time we tend to remember only the positives, but as I recall those four years of high school, mostly fun times and good people come to mind. One regret is that I have not maintained contact with most of my fellow students over the years.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Photos
Register for Free to view all photos!