Former Democratic Congressman and longtime Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell died at the age of 86 last week. Mitchell’s accomplishments were many — but one was very personal.
Mitchell was well known for his political career. But after he left politics, Mitchell became a caregiver to his wife, Marianne, who had Alzheimer’s disease.
“When Harry received his wife's diagnosis, he was really looking for resources and support for himself and for his family,” explains Marie Raymond, the community health and human services program manager with Tempe. “And he was having a really hard time finding anything locally in Tempe.”
Marie Raymond is a community health and human services program manager with Tempe.
She says around that same time, his son, then-Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell, learned about Dementia Friendly America, a national network of communities supporting those living with dementia. At the time, only a handful of cities across the U.S. had received the “dementia friendly” designation.
Raymond says father and son wanted to bring the dementia-friendly mission to Tempe, and in 2015, it became the first “dementia friendly” city in Arizona. Since then, several other cities have joined the initiative.
She says in the early days of Dementia Friendly Tempe, Harry and Mark encouraged others to attend the memory cafes, and they spoke at the first Dementia Friendly Summit. Raymond says other caregivers were touched by a well-known figure being so candid about his experience.
“There he was just being so just exposing his feelings and himself to everyone to share his experience so that it could normalize it.”
Dementia Friendly Tempe will host its 10th annual summit later this fall.
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