She was a woman of boundless love, optimism, and joy. She saw the best in everything and everyone. She saw the best in my father Bill and that allowed her to Love and put up with him for over 50 years! She saw the best in me when I was born with huge lumps (hematomas) on my head (they were huge, we have pictures, it looked like someone squeezed a softball under my scalp), the nurse told her not to worry about the lumps, they would go away. Mom immediately said, “What lumps on my perfect baby’s head?”
As different as my mother and father were, they had some very fundamental similarities. They were both joyous people who were most happy when they felt that they were being useful. But, for my father, being useful meant accomplishing things, sometimes great things, and it was the goal of the accomplishment, in and of itself, that satisfied him. For Vee being useful meant - helping people. And she was not happy with just helping a few. She taught School, she spent decades being a Campfire Girl leader building a camp and impacting the lives of thousands of young girls, she helped organize and run “Reality Island” a halfway house for troubled children, she collected genealogy material on the Vaughts and Randalls that stretched back to the beginnings of our country and shared this information with as many people as she could, this led her to donate historical items to her home town of Burkburnett. She quasi adopted a large number of Mike’s, Cindy’s, Richard’s and my friends and a few troubled young souls that she knew not well, but invited them to stay at our house for at least a little while. I am sure she did committed many selfless acts of kindness that many of you here know about that I do not.
My mother’s boundless desire to help other living things on this planet was not restricted to humans. Heck she loved plants! If there was a flower or a tree native to Texas that she did not know the name of, we never found it. One thing that she did not know was how to turn away a stray cat or dog. We started with two kittens (Smokey and Taffy). Then the miraculous process of exponential reproduction took over and soon had 18 cats and a dog living with us. Which was fun!
And Boy did my Mom like to have fun. My Sister Cindy gave me a note from her childhood friend Kathy Heimann who explained Mom’s love of fun perfectly. I will now read Kathy's letter:
Memory is a singular word. Vee is not a singular memory woman. We all have many, many, wonderful memories of Vee. All who were lucky enough to know her share their own special memories. When good mothers come to mind, Vee Randall will always be remembered as one of my favorites. I will think of her with a smile, love and appreciation.
A couple of years ago, Cindy brought her mom to see me in San Antonio. We had a really nice visit and one I will never forget. I think Vee was 93. I ask her, “of the nine decades she had lived, which decade did she enjoy most?” Without hesitation she said. “The decade when our kids were little. I had so much fun and loved when they were all at home. Once they got a drivers license, they scattered and I didn’t see them as much.”
Everybody loved Vee. Babies, kids, teens, adults She was the FUN mom. She was very active, proactive, and involved. The Randall’s house was the place we all felt welcome and could have REAL fun. Their home was generous, easy, and always full of people, love, and laughter. I always felt at home with Bill and Vee. Whatever juvenile crimes any of us committed were soon forgiven. They were interested in all the kids that gathered there. They LOVED kids.
Vee was very resourceful; an admirable quality. She was a child during the Great Depression so knew how to make-due with what was available. She could fix any problem. One day she used plastic milk jugs for pool arm floats for little kids. She was the mom who put a different food color in her kids milk thermos every day. She told me when she and Bill married, they only had fifty dollars to furnish their first little home. She built a vanity and stool out of orange crates and sewed skirts to surround them. She set up houskeeping within the fifty dollar budget and said they were as happy as could be.
She loved to sew, all arts, crafts, games, and parties. - Wow, what great parties she and Bill hosted.
I remember one party she put all her sewing fabric scraps, buttons, zippers, trim and notions of all sorts in the front entry and each guest had to make a hat before they could come in and join the party. They had casino parties with monopoly money and a great auction afterwords. I think I spent two thousand Monopoly dollars on a frisbee at a casino night auction. Let’s not forget, the crazy hat party, Halloween parties, and birthday parties. One Halloween they put a long ladder across the pool and everyone had to walk the ladder to get a treat. On their 25th Wedding Anniversary they had a big barbecue pool party at their home. The Randall Corporation had annual peel and eat shrimp boils.
I didn’t go to our senior prom. What I did instead was go over to the Randall’s house. Vee and I made daiquiris, watermelon balls, and pigs in blankets for the after prom crowd. She and I had a blast. The list of merrymaking goes on forever.
Bill and Vee had houses at both the lake and the beach. Those houses were always full of people and laughter as well. I remember one time at the beach, Vee wore a mink coat in the rain to walk the beach and gather shells. I ask her if she would ruin the coat? She said “no, the minks wore it in the rain and they didn’t ruin it.” Perfect logic.
Vee and Bill were truly in love, forever. One of the most touching of my memories is Vee sitting on the couch and Bill laying his head in her lap while she combed his hair. This happened often and was so simple, so sweet, and so loving.
In the 1980’s, I spent a week with Cindy and Mike on a ski trip. Oh WHAT FUN! I remember we stopped for gas and somebody yelled at Mike to “turn on” the gas pump. He started hugging and kissing the pump! Hilarious; I still laugh. John is a very educated man. I think he has more degrees than a thermometer. Last time I saw him was probably fifteen or more years ago. He was crawling around his parents living room floor on his hands and knees, wearing a bathrobe and a big, straw, sunhat, barking like a dog. He cracked me up. Cindy, like her mom, is a happy woman, very flexible, and always eager to please. I think I could ask her to dig potatoes all day and she would say ,“Ok, sounds fun; let’s do it! I could go on and on about the half century of great experiences i have had with the Randall family.
I will end with my vision and a prediction.
I feel, in my soul, Vee will reunite with Bill in Heaven. The next time we all meet on our eternal journey with God,
Vee will be sitting on Heaven’s couch, with Bill’s head in her lap, combing his hair.
Rest in Peace Vee Randall and know you were loved very much by very many.
Kathy
While she was helping people and having fun she accomplished a lot. She wrote poetry that was published and won national awards. She was a master craftperson. She made jewelry. As I mentioned previously she was a Campfire Girls leader for decades. She established and helped run the “reality Island” halfway house. She was active in the DAR. She contributed significantly to the geaneological knowledge of many families.
In doing all of these things with the boundless veal and energy that she had, she left in her wake, a great deal of clutter and chaos! My mother was many things but she was not tidy . . . and she would not throw anything away! There are disadvantages in seeing the wondrous possibilities of everything including inanimate objects. Ask Mike and Cindy who (serially) lived in the same house as Mom after Pop died. There was a room in the house Mike shared with Mom that we called the throw room. This was the room that Mom stored all of the junk that she refused to get rid of. We called it the “throw room”. We called it that, because you could not walk into the room, because every inch of floor space was occupied by Mom’s junk and if you wanted to put anything else in there you had to throw it in!
What Mom lacked in tidiness she more than made up for in Wisdom. Her wisdom was not linear and analytical, but it was so great that she could find wisdom in the words and actions of others even when they themselves were unaware. Let me give you one of my favorite examples. I was about 25 when we had a phone conversation one night about the Great Novella Siddhartha by Herman Hesse that we had both read. For those of you who have not read this wonderful book it is about a man Siddhartha born in India that goes through life following many pursuits, with the major theme that to learn one must experience and not merely listen to a teacher. Toward the end of the book, he meets his estranged son and attempts to tell him what he should and should not do. My mom and I talked about all of this and I remarked at the irony of Siddhartha attempting to instruct his son after his entire life demonstrated that everyone had to learn by experience for themselves. My Mom agreed on this point and we eventually hung up.
Now I have to provide some background for this conversation. My entire life up until that time, remember I was 25, my mother had ceaselessly but lovingly tried to tell me how to live my life.
It was the next day that my mother called me up and said “I did not realize until just now that last night we were talking about us! I guess I should let you run your own life now.” This was NOT consciously what I was trying to convey. But my mom interpreted this as my own sub-conscious wisdom and from that day on, she would provide advice when asked but ceased to try to instruct me.
I hope that most of you know that Vee passed from this earth in as graceful and peaceful manner as we could hope for. Her last several months on the planet were spent in a wonderful facility the Parson’s House that she felt like was home. She was active there, the staff treated her with dignity, and she made some wonderful friends. Cindy, Mike and friends visited regularly and Patrice and our children visited on several occasions. She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago, but experienced little or no pain. Her 95th Birthday held just about a month ago was a wonderful event that she enjoyed immensely and many of you attended. It was a little over a week ago, that Cindy called up and said that Mom had taken a turn for the worse. But by time Cindy got to the Parson’s House Mom was more embarrassed than in pain, said that she was fine and wanted to make some jewelry and Cindy should just go home. However, it was clear that she would leave us soon and was moved into Hospice where she was kept comfortable for a few days. She waited until all of her children had a chance to say goodbye and finally decided that she had done her work and peacefully left us.
There is one last thing that I must do. My Very Excellent Mother Justifiably Specified Unique Nostalgic Poetry for important occasions and insisted on family members providing poetry even when we were not very good at it. Part of the fun, and my Mom was all about fun, was listening to the inept verses that her children came up with. So that is why in my mother’s honor, you are stuck with this:
Some time ago, on a windy plane in the Midwest
A female child was born not quite like all the rest
Teutonic and native American genes were there
Her hair was brown, her skin was fair
In school she proved a very smart lass
And clearly the prettiest in the class
School was easy, and through it she flew
Her friends were many, her problems were few
Off to a University she was sent at a tender sixteen
Around the college town of Denton she was frequently seen
To become a teacher was plan number one,
But along the way she thought, it ought to be fun!
Off to Mary Hardin Baylor, she was sent for a year
The rules she was supposed to follow seemed a bit queer
In the dorm if a gentleman caller sat on a chair
Until it cooled off, no young lady could sit there
To chapel she was supposed to go every day
Somehow it rarely seemed to work out that way
When once she did go, and pray for backsliders on a list
Her name was there, oh well they were just being Baptists
Back to Denton our Heroine, was happy to be sent
To finish the degree of her intent
She would leave it to others who wanted to preach
Her plan from the start was to young people teach
Vee certainly was noticed for very good looks
She was an eleven in most peoples books,
But when pictures of her were seen wearing some slips
a scandals, a scandal when on everyones lips.
She Graduated from North Texas with honors we’re sure
The profession of teaching had its allure
So off to Dalhart to find some students to teach
Sure it was nice , but so far from a beach!
A Camp Fire leader, she was we will boast
She pursued this we hear, down to the gulf coast
Many girls she taught, many a craft
They went camping, hiking, swimming, and laughed.
And there on the coast she met a heck of a man
He was a comical engineer and a man with a plan.
Their courtship was interesting, we’ve heard people comment
Their union was special, we would even say prominent
To California then New Jersey and kids 1, 2, and three
Kept Vee and Bill busy, we think you’d agree
But then back to Texas and add child number 4
A home in Texas, a big family, who could hope for more?
Well more Vee got, when her mom Eva joined us in Houston
You see, the adult to child ratio just needed boost’in.
Grandma had her favorite, sort of a child ranking
One of her favorite statements: 3 of these kids need a spanking!
Raising 4 children IS every bit as hard as it seems,
But Vee and Bill were a remarkable team
Bill was hard, and fair and very demanding,
Vee was kind, and loving and always understanding
Their children grew and stumbled, and learned and persisted
And most of the time, did as Vee had insisted.
But life is difficult and comes with a cost
And along the way, one of them, Richard, was lost.
But Mike and Cindy and John have all married, (and married, and married)
And have had their own children and problems that they’ve carried
They’ve provided some grandkids who sometimes were loud
But they hope that these grandkids have made Vee very proud
But Vee’s family is bigger than those mentioned in this salutation
It includes Camp Fire, students, friends, and distant relations
And we all admire the world that Vee has fashioned
Made of trust in friends and loving compassion.