Jack Laughlin’s daughter, granddaughter thrill to Del Rio pilgrimage

August 17, 2007
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

This week, Jacki Mitchell and her daughter, Holly, finally accepted an invitation and the encouragement of a former Laughlin Air Force Base historian to visit Del Rio. Mitchell’s 1942 birth certificate from Randolph Field, San Antonio, displays both her regional connection and her first, formal moniker, Jackie Thomas Laughlin Jr.

Her mother, Mary Fundulakis Laughlin, a beautiful bride for only seven months was widowed when 1st Lt. Jack Laughlin went down in the Pacific Ocean on his first combat mission in a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber, Jan.29, 1942. Moreover, Mary Laughlin faced the prospect of raising her daughter, Jacki, alone, but with the help and nurturing of her large Greek family and its traditions.

Mary Laughlin died on Sept. 17, 2005, the birthday of her deceased husband who would have been 91. She lived her last years in her beloved home in Sacramento, Calif., and passed away at the zenith of an affectionate “pen pal” relationship with Laughlin historian Robin Poteat. Even after his retirement, Poteat continued his quest for information about the base’s namesake, corresponding with Mary Laughlin’s daughter, Jacki Mitchell, now a renowned theater and performing arts teacher, dancer and producer living in pastoral landscapes near Cheltenham, England. While Jacki is devoted to the performing arts, Holly, focuses her attention and camera lenses on the visual arts in Los Angeles, Calif., specializing in landscapes, competition sailboating, spiritual subjects, and abstractions.

The journey to southwest Texas was joyous, as was their introduction to the museum and new friends in Del Rio, but the Laughlin women’s Thursday morning visit to Laughlin Air Force Base proved to be a rollercoaster of emotions. Posing with 47th Flying Training Wing Commander Col. Mike Minahan at the nose of an AT-6 “Texan” aircraft on the base’s static display, seeing Jack T. Laughlin’s bas relief bronze plaque on the pedestal of the base flagpole, receiving from Minahan the 47th FTW wing coin, feeling and briefly wearing Jack Laughlin’s flight jacket, touching his leather helmet and fleece-lined flight pants all took their toll on this pair of gracious women who delighted and charmed all with whom they came in contact.

Jacki Mitchell, of course, never knew her father, the Del Rio Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, amateur archeologist, University of Texas student of anthropology and business administration graduate. But her life has been permeated with his memory, an honor acknowledged by his purple heart and Del Rio’s and the Air Force’s preservation of the record of his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country during World War II.

“In a very simple way, he was just a person to me. I knew that my father had died, but he was still very much alive to me,” Jacki Mitchell divulged to LIVE! Thursday. She recognizes Laughlin Air Force Base as the surest proof of Jack Laughlin’s heroism and devotion to duty. “Any wonderful thing they do here is wonderful for his memory. That’s how I was always brought up to believe,” said Mitchell, reflecting on her Thursday tour and education, including a full "mission brief" from Col. Mike Minahan, 47th Flying Training Wing, and his personal "windshield tour" of the sprawling base.

Mitchell touched on the controversy about her father’s remains, whether they were recovered from his crash near the Java Islands when he was shot down by enemy fire. “The only thing I understand is that something was sent back, but my mother [Mary] could never believe it was him, and she would not attend any ceremonies,” Mitchell said. “‘Daddy Jack,’ that’s what we knew him as, was always a reference for me. He was always in my life,” Mitchell said, explaining that her mother was from a culture of easy familial candor. “It was a Greek family, and everybody just talked about everything.”

She calls him "Daddy Jack," and he had another name for his unborn daughter. In an undated letter to Poteat, Mary Laughlin quipped, "You know, everyone thought I was mad when I named her Jacki Thomas Laughlin, Jr. Jack kept writing to take care of 'Junior,' so far be it from me to have done otherwise."

Jacki Laughlin married Henry Lawrence Mitchell II, a British subject, and the couple traveled and enjoyed an affluent lifestyle on an 87-foot, teak construction, ocean-going yacht, the Carlina, for the first 10 years of their marriage. It was a commodious ketch with a 60-foot mast. In France, Italy, Switzerland (briefly), and around the Mediterranean Sea they found “home.” “My oldest daughter, Rebecca, never lived on land for the first five years of her life, until I realized that schools would be very important to her future,” Mitchell said, smiling at the recollection.

Mitchell recalls that her mother, Mary, only rarely had the desire to travel, triggering, she speculates, her own love for it. “I found that my mother had an absolutely intense desire to go to China, and I said, ‘Oh, mother, I really don’t want to do that.’” But they did, traveling extensively in the Orient for a month. “We saw quite a bit,” Mitchell said, explaining that she loved the trip, fueling her own desire to go and see other cultures first-hand, a passion that has not diminished.

So, while Jacki and Holly were in Del Rio, Poteat gave them tours to local landmarks, including Lake Amistad and Rough Canyon, the Val Verde Winery, the Tardy Dam on San Felipe Creek and through historic south Del Rio’s tree-shaded neighborhoods. Thursday night, at the Laughlin Heritage Foundation Museum, the women were greeted by business, civic and government leaders, and the board of directors of the museum. About 40 attended the event, organized by Laughlin Heritage Foundation Board Chairman Jim Long and Houston area board member Linda Rios Bromley. Participants greeted old friends and viewing the growing inventory of exhibits and objects. For many celebrants, it was their first visit. But, Jacki and Holly were the focus of attention.

Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez gave a brief speech and presentation to Jacki, conferring honorary mayor status on the guest. Valdez quipped, “Now I’ll tell you what I hear all the time. ‘Please fix my streets!’” Long thanked the women for their visit, and presented each with lifetime memberships in the museum and foundation. Finally, Jacki Mitchell presented a framed collage of photographs, including images of Jack Laughlin with his AT-6 “Texan” trainer and an earlier school portrait, and photos of Mary and her daughter when Jacki was an infant and a young girl.

But, in the 47th Flying Training Wing headquarters, both mother and daughter struggled for mere words to express their feelings about an Air Force base and a southwest Texas city that honors their family and preserves the memory of their father and grandfather. “I feel so very proud of this as part of my heritage,” said Holly.

Jacki Mitchell paused when asked to illustrate how her 1980 visit to Laughlin and this 2007 reacquaintance pilgrimage, and Holly’s first exposure to the base, affected her. Her voice quivering some, Mitchell said, “I don’t know how to tell people. I can be very flippant at times, but I cannot tell you the honor and the pride I have in this Air Force base and what it accomplishes. And I’m so very proud to be a Texan – and an American Texan.”

Col. Minahan presents the 47th Flying Training Wing coin to Holly and Jacki Mitchell, giving a brief history of the coin tradition in Air Force units worldwide. He explained that a commemorative coin in the chest pocket shielded a World War I pilot from a single rifle shot from death, and the coin tradition is a gesture of friendship and caring for those held in high esteem. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)	Holly Mitchell examines and admires the commemorative 47th Flying Training Wing coin, Thursday. Her mother, Jacki, was particularly taken by the reverse side of the coin, a Texas lone star flag. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)
Tears flow freely from Jacki Mitchell as she briefly dons her father’s fleece-lined flight jacket. The jacket and a few other uniform components and insignia are preserved in the collections at Laughlin Air Force Base. (Contributed photo/Rob Poteat) (click image to enlarge)	A delicate gold bracelet was worn by Mary Laughlin, Jack Laughlin’s wife and widow, nearly always at home, rarely away because she feared damage to a precious gift from her husband Jack on their wedding day. Now, Jacki Mitchell, the couple’s daughter wears it proudly, but cautiously. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)
Jack Laughlin also wore and then gave this gold commemorative baseball, no larger than a small grape, to his wife, Mary, converted to a necklace, now worn by his granddaughter, Holly. The engraving is tiny, but proclaims “DR [Del Rio] Champs, 1932.” (click image to enlarge)	Col. Mike Minahan and Del Rio Mayor Efrain Valdez greet Holly (left) and Jacki Mitchell at a warm reception at the Laughlin Heritage Foundation Museum. Both women were introduced to about 40 distinguished military veterans, civic leaders, government officials, and businessmen and –women, and treated to tables of fruit, vegetables, cheese, sparkling punch and a colorfully decorated cake baked by Del Rio pastry chef Susan Ridgeway. Valdez conferred on Jacki the status of honorary alcalde (mayor). (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)
Jacki Mitchell presents a framed collage of historic photographs of her family, centering around the life of her father, Jack Laughlin, namesake of Laughlin Air Force Base. Receiving the artwork on behalf of the Laughlin Heritage Foundation Museum is James Long, chairman of the board of directors. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)