Slipstream - June 2017

Kruder’s Cars & Conversations
By Bill Kruder, Region Advertising Chair
Photos courtesy of the Author
hen I first heard of this
W
guy Voy it was right
here in Slipstream when
he wrote a two-part
article entitled “First Porsche.” Voy
“Mitch” Mitchell and I then had a
close encounter about a year ago at
a Porsche Cars & Coffee on a cold
blustery day in Addison as he drove
by the rest of us standing in the
drizzle. Since then Mitch has come
out with us several times for coffee
and a chat. Then some time went by
without us seeing him as he battled
cancer. I would hear some updates
on him and then he and Marie
attended Mavs & Mocha recently
at Zims. As what often happens,
someone said (this time it was Jim
Hirsch), “you know, we really need
to find out how this guy seems to
get a different Porsche every few
months.”
So here is the next in my series
of “conversations” I would like to
share with you…
Voy “Mitch” and Marie (MA-ree)
Mitchell, owner of a 2015 911
Turbo S , founding member
of PCA West Germany Region
in 1963 (disbanded in 2004)
Bill Kruder: Ok, I have to ask: where
is the name Voy from? Sounds like it’s of
European descent?
Mitch: Oh no. I don’t think my
mom had any idea of where the
name might have originated, but
in those days everyone had two
names, and I guess she liked Voy
Jerome, so that’s what I was called.
BK: Can’t say I ever met a Voy before.
Mitch: Well I hadn’t either until
I went into the service and met
another; he was an officer so we
didn’t really speak, but about five
or six years ago I was able to look
him up and we finally spoke.
BK: So what branch of the military
were you in? Did you stay in long?
12 June
Mitch: I was in the Air Force for
20-plus years and retired as a Master
Sergeant in 1978.
BK: After you retired what did you
do?
Mitch: I got a job with H-E-B in
the meat processing plant, on what
we would call today the IT side of
things.
BK: So you were kind of an IT guy
in the Air Force?
Mitch: No, I just kind of said I
could do it and learned. We used
a new system developed by Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC),
who at that time was a leader in what
was then called “Mini-Computers.”
Taking courses through the GI Bill
helped fill in the areas I couldn’t
learn on my own.
BK: And are you from here?
Mitch: No, I grew up in a small
oil patch town called Eldorado,
Texas about 45 miles south of San
Angelo. Our last assignment found
us in San Antonio and we lived
there for about 28 years. In 2004
moved to Celina.
BK: So I understand you two just
celebrated a milestone?
Marie: Yes we did! In December
we had our 50th wedding anniversary.
Fifty years of marriage looks
pretty good on these kids
BK: Where did you two meet? With
your accent you are not from “these
parts”?
Marie: I’m from Ireland, but as it
turned out, I was going to nursing
school near London, and Mitch
was stationed near London.
Mitch: I was stationed at Chicksands,
about 50 miles north of
London. A friend I knew from assignment
in Germany threw a party
so that I could meet some girls and
Marie was there. This was February
of 1966, and we married in December
of 1966.
BK: Wow! That must have been a
whirlwind relationship.
Marie: I guess you could say
that; we both worked crazy shifts
too. When I was working nights,
Mitch would be working days and
vice versa, so we hardly saw each
other.
Mitch: I think we probably spent
the equivalent of two weeks together
in all that time from meeting to
getting married.
BK: Ok so let’s talk cars. How did
you get interested in Porsches?
Mitch: Well I was stationed in
Siegelbach, West Germany in about
1962 and a good friend had a ’62
or ‘63 356 1600 Super cabriolet. Together
we would hit all the Grand
Prix tracks and I guess that just
hooked me.
BK: And what was your first then?
Mitch: Well before I bought my
first Porsche, in 1963 I bought a VW
1200 Beetle, and drove it for about
six months. I sold it and saved up so
I could buy a 356.
BK: How did that work out?
Mitch: Good. I saved enough
money and put down $200 on a
1964 Signal Red 356C coupe. As
I recall, I think they stickered at
about $3600, which was a huge sum
for a 22-year-old Staff Sergeant, but
heck, I was single. So in October
1963, I took the train to the factory
in Stuttgart to take delivery of my
new coupe. After a tour of the factory
I was off on my journey.