About the members of MIT.CAL Cooperative

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Anita L. Callahan is an Industrial Engineer by profession. After completing her undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech, she worked in manufacturing for ten years. She returned to school earning a Masters and a Doctorate in Industrial Engineering from Stanford in 1989. Anita then served as a faculty member in both Industrial and Management Systems Engineering and The Honors College at the University of South Florida as well as associate department chair and interim department chair in Industrial Engineering. She has written multiple articles on diverse topics such as Engineering Ethics, White Collar Productivity, Literacy in the Workplace, and Distance Education. She has also edited several books and served in national and international leadership positions in her professional societies. 

In 2004, Anita lost her voice and was forced to retire. Since then, she has served as a Board Member for the local deaf organization and, with Brenda Harris, founded Sister2Sister. She is currently a DMin student at KAIROS University studying them inclusion of adults with physical disabilities in the church.

Gary Mitchell maps his adult life through six decades of 1 – Beginnings and Struggles, 2 – Success and Failure, 3 – Blessed, 4 – Arrived, 5 – Caregiver, and 6 – A New Day.  His life experiences have taken him from the lowest valleys to the highest mountain tops as he worked and raised a family. Several years ago, Gary started writing letters to his three adult children to provide them with a history of his family and growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. In the letters he told them of wanting a greater experience with Jesus Christ, about where he lived, going to school, his friends, his work, and starting a family. As the stories continued, Gary’s writing became an outlet for his grief after Peg, his wife of thirty years went to be with the Lord.

In his work, Gary served more than forty years as a police officer and law enforcement executive at both the local and federal levels. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University after researching workplace violence. Throughout his career he has been presented with numerous distinguished awards including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary’s Award for Excellence.

On January 1st, 2024, Gary married Anita Callahan beginning a new day.

Not every website has a cat as a writer. MITCALCooperative.com does!

🐾Missy🐾 Mitchell Callahan began her existence on earth as an unwanted and abused feline. While she was yet a kitten herself, she became pregnant and gave birth to four kittens. A human decided that she and her little family were not wanted. Missy and her brood were tied up in a plastic bag and thrown away by the side of the road like yesterday’s garbage. Fortunately for them, a Good Samaritan found them and brought them to a local rescue.

Soon Missy’s kittens found furever homes but Missy did not. Little did she know that a two humans were about to change her life. These two humans, affectionately known as First Mama and First Papa, found a cat wandering around their home and they wanted to adopt it. So they took the friendly cat to the veterinarian for a checkup. Unfortunately but very fortunately for me, the friendly cat had a microchip and was reunited with her family. The veterinarian asked the couple if they would consider adopting a young abandoned cat by the name of Eleanor (that was me). First Mama, and First Papa fell in love with Eleanor. And now the once unwanted feline had found a new home where she was renamed Missy.

Fast forward a few years and circumstances changed. First Mama and First Papa could not keep Missy because of health problems. With First Mama’s help, Missy penned a note to the residents of the complex where she lived asking for a new home. Anita and her husband John met Missy on a Friday night and she relocated the very next morning.

Because First Mama really missed 🐾Missy🐾, 🐾Missy🐾 began writing e-mails to her to assure her that she was okay. 🐾Missy🐾 was still reluctant to have much to do with humans but eventually she became more comfortable with her new surroundings. When COVID-19 struck, the complex where she and her new family lived went into isolation. 🐾Missy🐾 took this as a challenge and began writing daily e-mails titled 🐾Missy🐾’s Missive to approximately 100 subscribers with the goal to “educate, entertain, and encourage” her readers. 

Since then, the cat now known as 🐾Missy🐾 Mitchell Callahan (actually she was a Mitchell before Anita was because her First Pawrents were also Mitchells) has written over 1,500 messages. To do this, 🐾Missy🐾 gets Anita up around 4:30 and dictates her thoughts for each day. Anita then transcribes them and sends them out using 🐾Missy🐾’s personal e-mail address.

The beginning of 2024, 🐾Missy🐾 gained a new Dad. Anita’s first husband passed away two years ago. 🐾Missy🐾 became to official wedding planner. She is now mentor to another young cat, who lives nearby, who just adopted a new Dad this year too.

Just in case you are wondering “what does a cat have to say”, she writes about everything. Her topics have included human hygiene (she wrote about how to wash one’s hands), the alphabet (written and signed), the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and every Advent, she publishes a series containing scripture and songs about the upcoming season.

Anita Callahan and Gary Mitchell have been married for eleven months now and their adventures and life endeavors have only just begun. Every day is a jam-packed day filled with not just daily activities but also leading the Silent Singers program (where they originally met and fell in love after Gary walked Anita to her door and asked her out for a date using sign language) and the Estates Resident's Scholarship Committee. Their day starts early in the morning with them having breakfast together. After that, they get started with their day by answering e-mails; and Anita writing their cat’s daily blog, “Missy’s Missives” which has close to one hundred subscribers and currently about 1,500 issues which have been posted since the COVID-19 lockdown. Once their morning activities are done, they then begin to get ready for school. Yes, you heard me correctly, both Anita and Gary have gone back to school to earn their Doctorates in Ministry. Anita and Gary are both taking courses that involve deep research projects. It is a two-year course that they are hoping to finish sometime next year. 

As you’ve probably seen or heard around campus, Gary’s project which began with the creation of the Religious/Spiritual Attitudes Survey that was handed out to all the residents. Anita decided to take a more personal approach for her project and started focusing more on religious spiritual attitudes for people with disabilities. Once all homework and classwork has been completed, or at least in between work, it is time to enjoy a delicious lunch and sometimes to take a break from everything and enjoy afternoon activities. These usually include either coming to afternoon events that the Lifestyles department hosts or just taking walks around the beautiful campus.

Fun fact: Gary is starting to put together his own time-lapse of the construction work happening around the facility. Also, on Monday nights, Anita likes to decompress herself from a long day of activities by playing video games. Other than making time lapses and playing video games, when asked how else these two busy bodies can decompress from the long days, they talked about how important it is for them to be spiritually, socially, and physically active. 

Together they attend two churches, and Gary even preaches in the Health Center. They like to say that they’ve always been considered a “paradox” but now they are considered “a pair of paradoxes.” When asked if there was anything else they’d like to tell everyone, they just simply wanted to say, “We are happy!”

This article was published in the December 2024 edition of the Shavings, which is the Magazine of The Estates at Carpenters. The article was in the Resident Spotlight section.