Hometown Funeral Martha Mitchell Buried

By Myra MacPherson daughter, Marty. Washington Post the South I feel I understood her." Pine Bluff, Ark. During the memorial ceremo- Martha Mitchell was, as one ny, facing the closed steel casket friend said, "A mass of contradic- Among the floral wreaths'sur- topped with pink flowers, Mitchell tions." rounding Martha Mitchell's grave displayed the same poker face that on the sloping crest of Bellwood millions saw during the televised Terrified of the limelight, she Cemetery was a display of white Watergate hearings. would often weep before one of her mums, spelling out in 'block letters "public performances" — her ap- Later, Mitchell sat in the living six inches high a slogan that needed pearances were always perform- no room of the Wests' estate and sent ances — but once out there the interpretation: "Martha Was word through a friend that "it was Right." blonde woman who tripped around a very fine service with all the on stiletto high-heeled sling-back The flowers, sent by a Califor- dignity and grace that Martha shoes adorned with organdy and deserved." nia admiral (the family would not bows gloried in it all. say who) spelled the epitaph for To some of Martha Mitchell's Martha Beall Mitchell — once closest friends, Mitchell was gra- Before Watergate Martha America's most outspoken woman cious and concerned throughout Mitchell was the lightning rod .f or who warned of the sins of Water- yesterday's services. the polarization in this country. gate before many were ready to But others among the 400 who listen. To many she was a brazen and sat through the Episcopal service, bombastic woman, to others she The estranged wife of former many of them elderly women wear- was a heroine who attacked a Attorney General John N. Mitchell ing gloves and summer dresses, liberal permissiveness they felt had died at the age of 57 of a painful were less kind to Mitchell. brought chaos to the land. and rare bone cancer on Memorial Day and was buried yesterday in a Over and over, one heard Not only should Senator J. criticism of Mitchell because of William Fulbright be "crucified" quiet and dignified — and some remembered stories about his cut- for viewers said impersonal — service voting against the Supreme ting comments about his estranged Court nomination of G. Harrold that gave no hint of her life of wife, about the $36,000 in alimony Carswell, she asserted, the Cambo- flamboyance and fame, loneliness. owed by Mitchell or about her dian war was "100 per cent wonder- With a southern passion for lonely death after a coma. ful." discretion, Mrs. Mitchell's closest Pine Bluff friends, the S. Ray "I'm surprised he showed his But she was often forgiven because her almost childlike naive- Wests, among the wealthiest people face," said one woman. te. in this town, assiduously obeyed the Although flowers came from orders of John Mitchell — whose President and Mrs. Ford, no Wash- No matter the agony she suf- career and marriage were de- ington dignitaries were present. fered, Mrs. Mitchell insisted until stroyed by the Cornelia Wallace, the wife of the the end to tie a ribbon in her hair,to — that the press and people of Pine Alabama governor, who met Mrs. wear lipstick and to have her Bluff be kept at a distance from Mitchell a few years ago, came fingernails polished daily. Yester- him and the Mitchells' 15-year-old because, "I liked her. Being from day she was buried in a pale pink organdy dress, her blonde hair pulled back in a pompadour, her nails the bright red she always

wore. "When I was growing up," she said a few years ago, "come Sunday In yesterday's service John I couldn't wait to wear my go-to- Mitchell stared straight ahead and Church clothes. Today, when I wear her daughter, Marty, sat with downcast eyes as the minister something fancy and pretty it still said people would not forget Mrs. gives me a lift." Mitchell's "zest for life, the C. H. Kunz, a busi- breadth of her sympathy and the nessman who knew her more than strength of her conviction." 30 years ago at the University of Arkansas, was the last to see her, on Jay Jennings, 28, her son by a Saturday. In a telephone interview previous marriage, fought back tears and swallowed hard. He is a he said, "she- was like a little researcher for the Senate Subcom- Southern belle and it was hard for people to accept the fact that she mittee on internal security. could be serious and totally analyti- When the Mitchell family and cal." the people of Pine Bluff and the But her intuitive fears about pack of cameramen and reporters 's "dirty tricks" and moved on, out of Bellwood Ceme- her call for him to resign are the tery, with its ancient graves, some things people remember now, al- dating to pre-Civil War days, four though time has dimmed the me- workmen lowered the casket into; mories of the days when members the ground. of the Nixon administration' im- Martha Mitchell lies at the foot plied that she was crazy. of her mother's grave and next to her grandparents. 3Fatronicie 28 an zranrisco etironicle * Fri., June 4, 1976JUN 976

UPI Telepho JAY JENNINGS, JOHN MITCHELL AND MARTY MITCHELL Some weue surpried that John Mitchell came to the funeral