- Date Of Birth: April 2, 1917
- Date Of Death: March 20, 2015
- State: Michigan
Lesester Danzy “Aunt Sis” Mitchem, age 97, of Cassopolis, died peacefully Friday, March 20, 2015, just two weeks shy of her 98th birthday.
She was born April 2, 1917, in Thomasville, Alabama to Henry and Julia (Williams) Danzy.
Her parents preceded her in death. She was also preceded by her two husbands, Jake Smith and Fred Mitchem; one son, James Marion Smith; one stepdaughter, Lovella Ussery; one son-in-law, Henry Turner; one sister, Bonnie McIntosh, three brothers, Ebenezer Danzy, Howard Danzy and LeRoy Danzy; six brothers in law, L.C. Pruitt, Nathaniel Bell, Joe Hardy, John McIntosh, Curtis Bell, Earl Sorsby; and four sisters in law, Phyllis Danzy, Pauline Danzy, Vera Danzy, and Ora Lee Danzy.
When Lesester was four years old, her family moved to Redland, Oklahoma, and later to Wayside Kansas. The family attended the Mount Mauria Baptist Church, four miles from their home. Later the family attended New Hope Baptist Church in Havana, Kansas. New Hope was the church where Lesester accepted Christ into her life and it was the church where Lesester and her first husband Jake Sherman Smith married September 27, 1936.
On December 25, 1939, Lesester and Jake Sherman, and their two sons, moved to Calvin Center, one month after her parents moved to Calvin Center. Aunt Sis, as Lesester was known by her family, attended Wayside school in Kansas through the eleventh grade. Years later she earned her high school diploma from Cassopolis High School, and later became a realtor.
Aunt Sis will be greatly missed by family and friends. Among the family, she leaves to cherish fond and precious memories are her four daughters, Ora Lee (The Reverend Lafate, Sr.) Owens of Elkhart, Carolyn Mae Turner of South Bend, Julia Marie (The Reverend Joe) Gause of Elyria, Ohio, Gloria (Thomas, Sr.) Brown of Granger, Indiana; four sons, Jake (Veola) Smith of Elkhart, Donald (Hersheline) Smith of Detroit, Lennel Smith of Cassopolis, Wendell (Lori) Mitchem of Canton, Michigan; numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren; three sisters, Jessie Bell of Detroit, Colyne Sorsby of Cassopolis, Julia Bell of Cassopolis; two brothers, Bretho Danzy of Cassopolis, Alvernon Danzy of Cassopolis; two sisters in law, Frances Danzy of Detroit and Velma Danzy of Cassopolis; and a host of nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.
