Women Leaders … with Kelly Barbazette: Rotary Club president stays active giving back to community in retirement

Returns to live in hometown after meeting husband, Dan, at a Gilroy High School reunion

Nita Eddie-Mitchell and Dan Mitchell on their wedding day. Photo courtesy Eddie-Mitchell

By Kelly Barbazette

During the past dozen years, Nita Eddie-Mitchell’s life has been a series of surprises — from getting married to taking the helm of the Gilroy Rotary.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with the 71-year-old registered nurse about her path and how it led her back to Gilroy.

“If you had told me 12 years ago I would have moved back to Gilroy and gotten married again … I would have said no way,” Eddie-Mitchell said, laughing.

Born in Santa Paula, Eddie-Mitchell moved to Gilroy with her family when she was 5. After graduating from Gilroy High School she studied recreation management at Fresno State University. She carried fond memories of working for Gilroy’s parks and recreation department in the summers and thought pursuing a career in recreation management would be interesting.

The major turned out not to be a good fit, but she discovered she enjoyed helping her floormates, many of whom were nursing majors, study for exams. She switched majors and graduated with a degree in nursing. Upon graduation, she worked at Fresno Community Hospital before finding a job at an oncologist’s private practice. During her career, she met her first husband at a hospital picnic. They had two children before divorcing.

The most meaningful phase of her career began when she worked at Hinds Hospice in Fresno.

“It was a time of my life where that felt right,” she said. “I was taking care of people and helping them in a very special time of their life.”

She was soon offered the position of Home Health and Hospice Director at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, a role she held for four years.

“It was like the best job I ever had,” she said.

Meanwhile, she regularly returned to Gilroy to visit her parents, who still lived in her childhood home. During one of those visits, she attended her 40th Gilroy High School reunion that her former classmate, Dan Mitchell, organized. At the reunion, they reconnected and she saw him again a few days later at a dinner hosted by mutual friends. They exchanged contact information and Eddie-Mitchell went home to Fresno. Dan called her a few days later.

“We were like silly teenagers. He would call me and we would talk for four hours,” she recalled.

A week later, they connected again in Gilroy. They had long dinners and longer phone conversations. Three months later Dan proposed.

At first she said she was uncertain of marrying again. While she wanted to move to Gilroy to be closer to Dan, who was a partner with Heinzen Manufacturing, she was used to her autonomy, living by herself in her Fresno home.

“I didn’t know if I could ever trust anyone again. And that’s the basis for me,” she said.

Dan understood.

“He said, ‘You’re willing to move here, and take a chance on me, I feel like I need to have the same commitment to you.’”

She agreed and mutual friend Sam Bozzo married the couple in her mother’s backyard. They were surrounded by their family including their four children — they each have two.

“He’s the most thoughtful man, I tell you,” she said. “The first couple of years I kept pinching myself. Just never say no because you never know.”

The couple bought a home in Gilroy in 2012. Dan retired two years ago. Nita-Mitchell continues to work in Health Services for Gavilan College, establishing guidelines during the pandemic and helping coordinate its annual health fair.

Giving back to their community is important to both of them. Dan is active in the Gilroy Elks Lodge. A 2017 graduate of Leadership Gilroy, Nita-Mitchell is the chair of the Personnel Commission for the city of Gilroy. She also volunteers with the Gilroy Downtown Association.

“Trying to keep our calendar organized is crazy,” she said.

After being a member of the Rotary Club for nine years and serving as president-elect last year, Nita-Mitchell became the president in June.

“It’s just a great group of people,” she said. “It’s great fellowship — and we raise a lot of money for some good causes.”

Gilroy Rotary’s community grants program disperses money annually to support local community needs focused on youths, education, and senior citizens. It also awards college scholarships each year to local high school students. Mental health is an important cornerstone for the international group, Eddie-Mitchell said.

After two of their major fundraisers — the annual flower sale and wine sales at the Gilroy Garlic Festival — ended, Gilroy Rotary is trying something new to raise money for their causes: a pickleball tournament. It will be held Sept. 30 at South Valley Middle School.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, attending concerts, and spending time with their children and grandchildren — the couple has 14 grandchildren between the two of them.

They have kept their landline — Dan has had the same phone number for years. It’s not unusual for them to receive an impromptu call from visiting friends wanting to meet up. And a few times each year, she and a group of her grade school friends get away to stay at a friend’s cabin. They’ve dubbed themselves the Gloverlies after finding matching pairs of antique gloves during one of their trips.

“I had a patient who used to tell me, ‘Honey, you’re not getting any older every day that I am.’ So, I’ve taken that attitude,” she said.

When asked what advice she would give to other women, she said to pursue something you enjoy.

“Make sure you like your work. Life is too short to work on something that you’re not passionate about.”

She said a positive outlook, a trait she feels she was born with and further nurtured by her faith, has been a constant in her life.

“I’ve always had the thought that I could wake up and say, ‘Is it going to be a good day or a bad day?’ You make that choice and go with it.”

Kelly Barbazette, a former journalist for Bay Area newspapers, is a freelance writer. She lives in Gilroy with her husband and two daughters. She can be reached at [email protected].