For longtime friend Linely Schaefer, Mitchell was much more than an accomplished writer or celebrated professor. Schaefer remembers one particularly difficult year at the Cathedral Village Arts Festival when rain forced organizers to shut down the street fair. From the beginning, he wanted the Cathedral Village Arts Festival to be free. The Cathedral Village Arts Festival describes Mitchell as a “fierce defender of the Arts” and says he leaves behind an “inspiring and enduring legacy.” His family has asked that memorial donations be directed to the Cathedral Village Arts Festival or organizations that foster the arts in Saskatchewan.