Maxine Mitchell

I first met Maxine Mitchell after moving from Florida to California where I joined the fencing salle of the great Maestro Nido Nadi where I first began actively fencing in Southern California. Maxine was an older lady who was highly respected by fencers and fencing masters and had been national champion several times. Lathrop Gay , who was my first fencing master, fenced in the same salle as Maxine and often talked about her, so I was pleased to finally meet up with her. Lathrop told me that she was the first woman that was allowed to fence in saber competitions. I liked Maxine, and found her to be a very down to earth person. Returning to Florida after an attractive salary offer from my former employer, our company aquired a Southern California firm, and it turned out to be Maxine's company! So we had other things to discuss when we met again at a later time.

Maxine was a draftsperson, and an excellent artist (Lathrop Gay was also and artist - a famous painter). Her small sculptures of fencers were outstanding, and I would certainly have liked to have obtained some of them. After again moving back to Southern California, I again had a chance to meet with Maxine. She always called me: "The Florida fencer".

Maxine was good at all sports that she learned, and was U.S. National Women's Champion four times. She was a grandmother when she won her fourth national championship! One of the truly great figures of American fencing, Maxine was one of the truly great persons who I will always remember fondly and wish that I had been able to spend more time with her in fencing.

Here is a link to where you can Maxine's story as she revealed it.