LaReal Mitchell

Former Alaska resident LaReal Nadene Mitchell Calderwood Pettijohn, 79, died Oct. 16, 2008, in Bremerton, Wash., from complications due to diabetes and old age.

A visitation will be at noon Friday, with the funeral at 1 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3250 Strawberry Road in Anchorage.

Nadene was born Nov. 21, 1928, in Provo, Utah, to Mary LaReal and Charles W. Mitchell. She learned to play the piano in junior high school and went on to accompany many individuals and choirs in her lifetime. She graduated from Provo High School on May 24, 1946, and was valedictorian of her class. In 1947, she was the Utah County Centennial Queen. She graduated from Brigham Young University on June 5, 1950, with a bachelor’s degree. She married Keith Wright Calderwood on June 7, 1950, in the Salt Lake Temple. She was a member of the Society of Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

They moved to Alaska in 1959. They had five children: Karen, David, Dean, Kenneth and Korene. Nadene and Keith were very active during their lives with their family and church. Keith died in Anchorage from cancer in January 1987.

On Oct. 17, 1992, Nadene married E.T. Pettijohn and moved from Anchorage to Wasilla. Nadene and E.T. served a mission from Nov. 1993 to May 1995 for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ireland and then Florida. E.T. died from cancer in 2007. Nadene had been living in a nursing home in Poulsbo, Wash.

She is survived by her sister, Arla Renee Mitchell, Provo; and her five children, Karen Ellis of Kenai, Dr. David K. Calderwood of Huntsville, Ala., Dean W. Calderwood, DDS, Columbia Falls, Mont., Kenneth E. Calderwood of Kenai, and Korene Calderwood of Bremerton; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives.

Nadene was preceded in death by her husbands, Keith Calderwood and E.T Pettijohn; parents, Mary LaReal and Charles W. Mitchell; brother, Charles Ray Mitchell; aunts, Florence Barker and Etta Jones.

Arrangements are with Anchorage Funeral Home and Crematory