Our beloved son, brother, uncle, and great-uncle, Bailie Matthew Mitchell, passed away on December 17, 2021, at the age of 33 years old.

Bailie Matthew Mitchell was born December 14, 1988, in the town of High Level, AB, to Richard and Evelyn Mitchell. At a young age, his parents separated, and Bailie moved to Beaverlodge, AB, with his mother. It was there he would start and complete his grade school education receiving academic honors for all core subjects throughout. He obtained his High School Diploma at Beaverlodge Regional High School in 2006 and was recognized by the Peace Wapiti School Board with an Academic Excellence Award for being the top student from Beaverlodge Regional High School.

Bailie was an incredibly well-rounded individual with many interests, accolades, and achievements. It was no surprise that he sat on the Leadership and Ambassadorial Teams of B.R.H.S. and was a huge supporter of any extracurricular event held. One of his favorite past times was writing rhymes/lyrics, poetry, short stories, and essays. They were in a nutshell … “All the Things” but most of all they are powerful and extremely well written; we are thankful to have a robust collection of them. Elder & Leemaur Publishers selected Bailie as a featured author for an essay he wrote called “The High School Course that should be Mandatory”; published in a book called “Voice of the Future”. After High School, Bailie went on to attend the University of Lethbridge in 2007 for a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science; unfortunately, he did not finish his first year even though he was awarded a scholarship from the university to help offset the cost of tuition. While he attended the U of L he wrote an article for the student newspaper called “DEAD… DANCE FLOOR”. A witty and well-written plea to the student population to support events put on by the student body. When Bailie was determined, he was all in and you knew this by his infectious personality and spirit.

Bailie enjoyed playing sports, mainly team sports, however, he did quite well in track and field, and in 2003 he received a medal for Intermediate Boys Overall Class for Track and Field. He started playing football in Junior High for the “West Country Lightning” and in 2002 they won the “Peace Country Championship”; he was selected for the “Sportsmanship Award”, that season. In High School, he went on to play three seasons with the Beaverlodge Royals football team and in 2005 the team won the Athabasca Bowl; that season he received the “Coaches Award”. Bailie’s favourite sport was basketball so you could always find him shooting hoops at his net in front of his home; wearing his teams’ colours, red and black. He was obsessed with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls; he even went so far as to name his dog MJ. Bailie played for both the Hythe Panthers in Junior High and Beaverlodge Royals in High School. His Junior High team took home the following medals: In 1999 - 2nd - B.E.S., 2001 - ‘B’ H.R.J.H.S., and in 2003- Peace Wapiti.

Bailie loved music, mainly Hip-Hop and Punk. He spent countless hours writing lyrics with hopes to create music that would one day be recorded. Bailie was a self-taught drummer and loved creating rhythm. He enjoyed being part of the High School Band Class and two other bands outside school he helped create called “Minus the Negative” in Beaverlodge and “The Town that Dreaded Sundown” when he lived in High Level. While the band didn’t become recording artists, they had fun creating their sound and being together. Recently there had been serious discussion of picking it back up again and creating some recorded music from collaborative beats and his own lyrics.

Bailie was a Mentor for Big Brothers and Big Sisters Grande Prairie, AB, in 2007. From 2006-2007 he also did private tutoring to help prepare students for diploma exams. Bailie received GPFC Spirit Seekers 2005 Aboriginal Youth Role Model Award (Honored for their dedication to Health & Wellness). He also received acknowledgment by the FAAY Foundation for Advancement of Aboriginal Youth receiving a scholarship in 2003. He further won the Grand Masonic Lodge Education Bursary in 2007 and the Peace Wapiti Education Foundation awarded him the 2006-2007 Open Competition Scholarship.

Bailie held great pleasure in being appointed to the Government of Alberta Youth Advisory Panel from 2004-2007; representing Alberta’s youth and the issues, challenges and opportunities they encounter. The panel was set up to report back to the Chair of the Youth Secretariat and give their perspective and recommendations on government policies and initiatives. Due to his outstanding contribution to the panel, he was invited by Children’s Service’s to attend the World Conference on Family Violence in 2005, held in Banff, Alberta as the Alberta Youth Advisory Panel representative to be an Ambassador for youth from not only Alberta, but Canada at the International Conference. It was at this conference that Bailie was honored to introduce speakers Dr. Peter Jaffe and Dr. David A. Wolfe. Bailie was also a volunteer for Uniting Children in 2005. Bailie helped prepare for and facilitate the first-ever event called “Day with the Chief”; to help bridge the gap of commination between Edmonton Youth and their Police Service. He received resounding accolades for being instrumental to the success of gathering information by drawing out immense input from participants. Bailie had taken part in a consultation session to apply input to the Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force. The final report was entitled “KEEPING COMMUNITIES SAFE”; the task force submitted 31 recommendations to the government—of which the government accepted 29. The goal was aimed at reducing crime and making our communities safer. Bailie had several jobs throughout his life but he thrived in the service industry and was very experienced in customer service. He had the ability to learn and adapt with ease to any situation. His success in the industry came from his ability to engage with any individual he spoke to. He had a way of making people feel like what they had to say meant something and so did you. These unique qualities made him the most genuine and incredible person. Furthermore, these qualities, alongside the fact that he was committed to serving with integrity, made him one of the best in the field.

I pulled this exert from one of Bailie’s literary works entitled “GUILTY” is What Our Graves Will Read”: “Nearly all of us possess a dark side, a facet where the inner demon escapes. We are not born with this wickedness within us. It diffuses its way into our hearts from the world around, the darkness surrounding, and turns our core into something dark and imperfect.”

I know for a fact when Bailie penned this, he wasn’t referring to himself becoming addicted to drugs. Nor did he desire for the ebb and flow of that addiction to result in the loss of his life to that inner demon and darkness, that knows no boundaries. He had hopes and plans for a future; he desired to remain healthy and had been working at staying healthy, more than he had ever in the past. He shared on a few occasions and in fact a day before his birthday mentioned looking into going back to University or Bible College. With all that he had to offer, given the right circumstances, Bailie would have made positive changes in this world there is no question. I heard his good friend say he would lay his life down for Bailie to live if he could have because Bailie had so much to give this world and I know he meant it.

Bailie is survived by his father: Richard Mitchell; siblings: Andy, Meril, Charlean and Pamela (Kelly) Mitchell, Corey (Romila) Mildenberger, and Debbie (Chris) MacKenzie; nieces and nephews: Ryan, Adam (Kathryn), Raymond, Evelyn and Corissa Mildenberger, Chase and Chance Herback, Richard and Lannie Mitchell, Mallory Hanfield (Jason), Kyle Christenson, Jory Preston, Maya and Robbi Braithwaite, Lars and Evie Popowich, Cathal, and Cain and Cannyn Goulet; great-nieces and nephews: Cohen Handfield, Everley Handfield and Isaac Wood; as well as a huge stepfamily.

Bailie was predeceased in death by his; grandparents: Joseph and Ann Sutherland, Matthew and Adeila Mitchell; mother: Evelyn Mitchell; siblings: Raymond Mildenberger and April Mildenberger; niece: Tesleen Mitchel; as well as several other beloved family members.

A Memorial Service for Bailie will be held on Saturday, July 16, 2022, at 2:00 PM at Christ Community Church in Grande Prairie (10106 112 Ave.).