Traffic accident claims life
of former IFI employee
of former IFI employee
Kathy Mitchell, who retired in 1994 after
a 33-year career with the International Fabricare Institute,
was killed an in automobile accident along with her husband,
Joseph, November 25.
Mitchell joined IFI, then known as the
National Institute of Drycleaning, as a switchboard operator
shortly after graduating from high school. She was promoted to
secretary for the plant manager and then office manager.
When the institute moved to Joliet, IL,
after its merger with the American Institute of Laundering in
1974, she remained in Maryland, rejoining IFI four years later
when it returned to Silver Spring, MD.
She was IFI’s membership supervisor
during a period of rapid membership growth and also supervised
the transition to a computerized database and helped plan
conventions and design IFI’s new-member marketing. At one
time she also supervised all IFI publications and public
relations activities.
The fatal auto accident occurred when the
car in which she and her husband were riding was rear-ended by
a tractor-trailer while they were stopped at an intersection
waiting to make a turn. They were residing in Mt. Airy, MD, at
the time.
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