Douglas Keith Mitchener, age 93, a resident of Culleoka, passed away Tuesday, July 5, 2022, at Maury Regional Medical Center.
A funeral service will be held on Saturday, July 9, 2022, at 12:00 PM at Maury Hills Church with Pastor Russ Adcox officiating. Burial will follow in Lynnwood Cemetery with military honors provided by the United States Army. A visitation will also be held on Saturday from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the church. Heritage Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.
Keith was born on March 4, 1929, and was the son of the late Robert Harry Mitchener and the late Jessie Brittain Brown Mitchener. The Columbia native was a 1947 graduate of Columbia Central High School. While still in high school, he worked at the Jersey Pride Creamery. Immediately following graduation, he went to work for Kraft Foods in Columbia and stayed with the company for thirty-five years, eventually becoming the maintenance engineer for the Southeastern Region.
He married Helon Walker on June 9, 1951. They were married for sixty-eight years before her death in 2020.
Keith served in the Army from 1951-1953 during the Korean conflict. He was stationed in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1981, he went to work for Heritage Farms Dairy in Murfreesboro. He and Helon lived there from 1981-1991 and returned to Columbia when he retired.
A dedicated “do-it-yourselfer,” he could fix almost anything and refused to hire someone to do what he could do himself. As a creative and out-of-the-box thinker, during his Kraft years, he designed an improvement in the cheese-making process for the company and was given recognition for that accomplishment. After he retired, he found joy in building his own home and doing most of the work himself, including laying the brick. He enjoyed gardening and working on his property and fixing things in his basement or his shed. He was always tinkering with something. He also enjoyed morning coffee with a group of friends in those retirement years.
He was the last of his first cousins and the last survivor of “the Christmas Bunch,” a group of about two dozen friends who gathered to renew their friendship every Christmas season for over fifty years.
In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by his stillborn daughter Patricia Ann Mitchener, brothers Harold Wayne Mitchener and Donald Porter Mitchener, and son-in-law Stephen Worley.
He is survived by his daughters Karen Worley of Hampshire and Sherri Mitchener of Columbia, grandchildren Brent (Jessica) Worley, Katherine Worley, and Stephanie Worley, and great-grandchildren Eugene, Evelyn, and Emerson Worley all of Hampshire. He is also survived by niece and nephews Stacey (Ronnie) Roland, Jeff Mitchener, and Tracey Blocker, and special caregivers Carolyn Kennemer and Gennie Lovett.
Pallbearers will be Brent Worley, Nathan Peery, Clint Bain, Mike Lentz, Tom Tindell, Brian Brown, and Jeff Mitchener.
Honorary pallbearers will include, Danis Ekimogloy, Jean & Roy Johnson, Wanda & Jim Paris, Betty Wells, Patty & Joe Dennis, and Callie Bain.
The family requests memorial donations are made to Maury Hills Church, 101 Unity Drive, Columbia, TN 38401, or a charity of your choice.
