Catalina Arrogante Mitchell
July 2nd 1953 – July 26th 2021
Old timers will know the name Catalina Arrogante. She was the thin, attractive young Filipina who loved bushwalking and cross-country skiing with NPA. She became a long-term fixture on our NPA State Executive, married Ray Mitchell, is known to many of you as Linna Mitchell and spent many years as our Hon Treasurer. Indeed, she began as Assistant Treasurer in October, 1982 before becoming Hon Treasurer in 1984, a position she held until formally stepping aside in 1997. That made her formal tenure the longest of any Treasurer in the life of the NPA. It does not reflect that through her firm, Mitchell and Associates, she continued to provide financial advice, either as auditor, or in less formal roles. Indeed, until late 2020 Linna was still working with Diane/Martin on NPA’s accounts.
Linna passed away suddenly last week, July 26th, 2021. An infection turned into sepsis and she did not recover. Ray tells me she died peacefully at the end, blessed by her local priest with seven family members around her. Her funeral was held on 5th August. During these Covid times only ten could attend in person but there was an online attendance. The service was held in her local Church, a church where she worshipped and where she played an important role.
I wish to remember Linna from all those shared moments that we had over our many years on State Council and State Executive, of our times travelling together to and from those meetings and, especially, one early morning breakfast together in Cabramatta when, to her delight, she discovered that here, in Sydney, she could actually obtain balut, a special food for the Pinoy community. This was her first visit to Cabramatta and the delight in her eyes remains with me today.
Linna retained strong connections with her roots. Linna is a graduate of the University of the East (UE)-Manila BSBA program and was the Lady Minister Exchequer of the Batch ’73 of Hiyas ng Silangan. That community stayed close and she continued to support the Alumni Association until the end.
She also maintained close contacts with her large family back in the Philippines and here in Australia. I loved how she would always bring a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream to her aging grandmother. The grandmother delighted in “Australian milk”, saying it was so much better than local milk!
Her husband, Ray Mitchell, himself a long-term supporter of the NPA via his tech support, tells me that he and Linna were able to escape into the bush in May, staying for three nights on Mount Kaputar. It is wonderful that she had that last moment within the Australian bush that she had come to love.
To Ray Mitchell and to all Linna’s close family and friends, NPA expresses its condolences and its thanks for the many devoted years to our cause.
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