Most memorable times in recent years:
September 11th (also the anniversary of my father’s death in ’49)
3-month visit from Lynnika & Alex when they came to the States early in 2002
3-month visit from Lynnika & Alex when they came to the States early in 2002
Rescuing a pathetic, injured dog by the roadside who now is a beautiful, healthy, happy member of Lynnika & Alex’s household in Tucson (my granddog Gumby)
April 2002: sitting in on a trial that ended (thus far) in the wrongful conviction of an innocent man & his later sentencing to 65 years
Impressive meteor shows in November of 2001 & 2002
April 2002: sitting in on a trial that ended (thus far) in the wrongful conviction of an innocent man & his later sentencing to 65 years
Impressive meteor shows in November of 2001 & 2002
What I’m most grateful for:
- My Christian faith, rekindled some years back after 2 decades of abandonment
- A strong & happy marriage that has weathered our storms
- Family, with which I continue to be richly blessed
- Life and good health
- A 12-step program that taught me how to give up worry
- Humor
Family:
Husband:
Tom Randolph (met at the University of Arkansas): celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary Jan. 2003!
Daughters:
Lynnika Butler (married & in grad school at U of AZ in Tucson)
Sarah Hepler (in the Navy, on the USS Grasp; has 3 daughters)
Andrea Jacobson (Hampton, VA, where she’s in school, married & raising 2 sons)
Allison Randolph (2002 graduate of VA Tech)
Sons-in-Law:
Alex Navas (Lynnika’s husband, originally from El Salvador)
Eric Jacobson (medical student)
Grandchildren:
Michae (Micah) Butler,
Her younger sisters, Amber & Annaliese Hepler
(home in Chester VA with their dad while Mom sails the seas)
Orion Williams,
His little brother, Alex Jacobson
Family of Origin:
Brother, Ed McDonald, a physicist in northern Virginia, married with two grown daughters.
Sister, Joyce Hillstrom, a nurse in Charlottesville, VA, with a son out of college and a daughter in middle school.
Our mother, Eloise McDonald Graham, died of breast cancer in 1992.
Occupations I’ve held:
Technical Editor (current)
Secretary (mostly)
Artists’ model
Assistant manager (Kinko’s)
Bookkeeper
Sign maker
Occupation I’d most enjoy:
Working with animals
Places I’ve lived since Mississippi:
Missouri
Arkansas
Texas
Virginia
Interesting things I’ve done:
Attended a question & answer session & a concert by musicians Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax
Occasionally drove a forklift for the State Parks
Worked with my husband as extras for the movie "Jackal"-within an arm’s length of Sidney Poitier (sp?) & saw Bruce Willis a half-block away (but he didn’t notice); disappointed not to see Richard Geer; likewise disappointed not to see myself or Tom in the final movie!
Gave birth to our two Randolph daughters at home
Witnessed the births of our first two grandchildren (not at home); only missed the fourth by 30 minutes
Lived in the woods with my first husband & our two children (3 years old & an infant), while he built a cabin essentially around us. There was frost every night of our first month there; the first rain, even after he built the roof, drenched us; I washed dishes by wheeling them down to the pond in a wheel barrow. (Though interesting in retrospect, that’s where I prefer to keep it.)
Education:
Only 1 full year of formal higher ed, but many years enjoying the "University experience," having worked in various departments at both U of A and the University of Richmond.
Biggest adventures:
A 20-hour trek deep into the backwoods of Arkansas alone & unprovisioned
Para-sailing
Swimming with dolphins
Snorkeling in the Caribbean (Each of the above happened only once; as a rule, I’m not very adventuresome.)
Lynnice's Grandkids and One Daughter
Amber Hepler, Michae Butler, Orion Williams, Annaliese Hepler, Andrea Jacobson holding Alex Jacobson
Feb 2002, Buck Row Beach, Hampton, VA
