MOM INSPIRES FAMILY; CHILDREN CITE WOMAN'S ACHIEVEMENTS, LESSONS.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

In the 1930s, Sarah Mitchell would drive her mother - uncomfortable with automobiles - to aid needy farmers in Nebraska.

Now 91, she depends on her daughter for transportation and spends her free time cruising the Internet.

Sarah Mitchell will proudly tell you she is the oldest resident at the Willows senior apartment complex. Her children will tell you she has always conquered new challenges.

``She's a strong woman. She's very adaptive to change,'' said Sally Blankenship, 59, Mitchell's daughter who lives in Newhall's Hidden Valley. ``She's done it all her life and she's still doing it. She's on the computer, using e-mail.''

John Mitchell, 68, Sarah Mitchell's son in Three Rivers, Calif., near Visalia, agreed that his mother has staying power.

``She's hearty stock,'' he said. ``Mother has outlived the doctors who told her she wouldn't live this long.''

Today, Mother's Day, Sarah Mitchell's contribution to the family tree will be celebrated by her three children, 11 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, many of whom live in California. This great-grandmother knows what's going on with everyone.

Sarah McWilliams traveled with her family to Nebraska when she was a little girl. Homesteaders, they brought all their possessions to Nebraska, including a wood kit house.

She studied in a one-room schoolhouse and helped her mother in a local restaurant in a small town there.

She met and married Ernest Mitchell and had four children at the family's home with the help of her mother, who served as the area midwife, Blankenship said.

Years later, Blankenship said her father enlisted to serve in World War II. When he came back, they decided to pack up and move to California, she said.

Ernest Mitchell became a mail carrier while Sarah Mitchell stayed home until the children had grown. Her children remember that she always helped with Boy Scouts and at the local church.

``Mother was always involved in civic activities,'' John Mitchell said.

And she still hasn't slowed down.

Blankenship said her mother suffers from a heart condition, diabetes and arthritis.

``But she's very active,'' Blankenship said. ``You wouldn't know it.''

Last year, she went back to Nebraska for her high school reunion - with her two brothers, one older and one younger, John Mitchell said. The reunion is open to all graduates.

``Her brother was the oldest graduate there. He's probably 93 or 94. And she was the third-oldest,'' John Mitchell said. With that kind of family history, ``I figure I've got another 30 years.''

In fact, Sarah and Ernest were quite a duo before he died in 1993 at age 92. Ernest wrote a book about his life and the family's history, titled ``As I Remember It.'' Sarah Mitchell still works on the family genealogy.

The kids bought the couple their first computer to help him with the book, John Mitchell said. Sarah Mitchell became so intrigued by the machine that she recently bought a new one that would be more up-to-date, he said.

``They both just took to it like ducks to water,'' he said. ``In late '97 she decided her third-generation computer wasn't good enough. Now she's on the Internet.''

For the couple's 60th anniversary, they invited the entire family on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico, Blankenship said.

``They kept us hostage on the boat,'' Blankenship joked. ``They're the ones who planned it. We had 40 descendants with us. Anyone who showed up from the family could go.''

And they traveled all over the United States in their motor home.

``They never left the country because they said there was plenty to see here,'' Blankenship said.

Always a stylish dresser, Sarah Mitchell still sews her own clothes, including this year's Easter outfit.

``She does beautiful work,'' said Irene Mitchell, wife of the oldest son, Robert.

Robert Mitchell figures the greatest gift his mother gave her children was leading by example.

``She illustrates how you take care of yourself,'' he said. ``She was part of the homestead group. They were from Russia, all over. But wherever they were from, they wanted to be good citizens. She's carried that through her entire life. You keep yourself educated and keep on going.''

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PHOTO (Color in SAC Edition only) Sarah Mitchell, center, has always tackled new challenges, her family says. Her latest feat? Surfing the Internet at age 91.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News