Nancy Marilyn Mitchell Lindsey

Ms. Nancy Marilyn Mitchell Lindsey, age 78 of Stuart, Virginia died peacefully at her home on Thursday, November 17, 2022. She was born in Patrick County on April 10, 1944, to the late James Randolph Mitchell, Sr. and Nelda Sue Hylton Mitchell. Nancy graduated from Stuart High School in 1962 and from the University of Washington in 1971 with a degree in Journalism. 

Nancy was one of the most decorated and respected journalists in Virginia history. During her 40-year career at The Enterprise, she won VPA (Virginia Press Association) awards in almost every possible category – including investigative reporting, spot news and general reporting, governmental and public safety reporting, family and lifestyle writing, and editorial writing. In 1981, she took second place in the National Newspaper Association contest for feature writing, and in 2012 won a first place VPA award for column writing. She was passionate about her craft, meticulous in her research and writing, and a firm believer in the power of journalism to be a force for good in the world. Outside of her family, the thing she cherished most in the world was quite possibly the Freedom of Information Act. She retired as Editor of The Enterprise at the end of 2016, having spent most of her adult life in the field of journalism. She did try teaching, Title 1 Reading between 1974 and 1978, and claimed she wasn’t any good at it, though students routinely came up to hug her and tell her how much they loved her for decades after. Shortly following her retirement, she received the Distinguished Patrick Countian Award for 2017.

Nancy spent the vast majority of her life in her beloved Patrick County, Virginia. She was a devoted daughter, mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, and friend to everyone in her life. She loved the Blue Ridge Mountains, reading, country roads, saving books and cats, the sound of persistent waves rolling in from the Atlantic and exploring the woods around the old family land she never truly strayed from. She traveled some - not enough to suit her - but there was never any doubt that Patrick County would always be her home.

Nancy is survived by two children, Lynanne L. Newman and husband, Danny of Martinsville, and Joel J. Lindsey and wife, Elisabeth Bergman of Decatur, Georgia; five grandchildren, Eric Hollandsworth, Alyssa Hollandsworth, Kelsey Newman, Samuel, and Charles Lindsey; one brother James “Jimmy” R. Mitchell, Jr. and wife, Mary Lee of Stuart; special nephew, Whitt Mitchell of Stuart; her beloved cat, Shadow; and many dear cousins and friends.