NORTHAMPTON — Florence resident Jonathan P. Mitchell, 37, who was found dead in the vicinity of the Elks Lodge parking lot Thursday morning, was remembered Monday as a caring and helpful family man.
The Northwestern district attorney’s office confirmed Mitchell’s identity on Monday. Authorities have not announced a cause of death.
Speaking from her Bliss Street home, Gerry Scheel, Mitchell’s grandmother, described her grandson as someone who was “doing something for everybody all the time,” whether it was checking in on family members or helping neighbors with yard work or snow removal, always refusing payment.
“I don’t know what I’d do without that guy,” Scheel said. “He did everything for me.”
“He was just a good, good guy,” Scheel added. “A good father, a good grandson. He was such a helper to everyone … and he never complained, anything that needed to be done.”
Mitchell grew up in Northampton and graduated from Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. He later went into the Army and attended Springfield Technical Community College, where he studied in an automotive program.
Lori Fazzino, Mitchell’s mother, described her son as “a very sensitive person” who was “always worried about everyone else.”
Mitchell was “a ball of energy” from the time that he was a child, Fazzino said, and enjoyed activities such as swimming, boating and cycling. He loved animals and owned three dogs.
Mitchell leaves behind three daughters.
Mitchell’s uncle Mark Scheel described his nephew as “a very good father” with “friends galore,” and agreed that he was “always the one to help anyone, everybody.”
“He was a hard worker,” Mark said. “He did a lot of things, jack-of-all-trades.”
Northampton and state police assigned to the Northwestern district attorney’s office investigated the incident as an unattended death, according to the DA, and the cause of death has yet to be determined.
“We’re all still kind of in shock at the whole thing,” Fazzino said. “It’s one phone call no parent should ever have to get.”
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.