Memories

Chip Farnsworth, Friend

Since learning about Randy's passing I had to process that for a while before the memories would come. The first thing is that larger than life laugh, an instant feel good moment when I think about it. I heard it often from 1983 when I met Randy to the early 90s when he moved and I lost contact with him. We met at Duke Manor Apartments, or as he called it, "Duke Manure," (future reference...all quotes will be what everybody referred to as Laco-isms) because he swore more dogs than people lived there. His apartment was across from mine and often I would see him running up and down the one story steps with the zest of a five year old.....everybody else walked the steps. That, alone, says a lot about Randy. We were bar-hopping pals, whether it was a night out looking for "hotties" or going to the Duke Pub or Your Place Or Mine and playing one of Randy's favorite games, Quarters. It was a popular game which involves players bouncing a quarter off a table in an attempt to have the quarter land, usually into a glass on that table. Before heading out for the night, he would flip a quarter to see who would be "driving the sled." When he drove, he would always play his favorite "tunage" which was "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC, perfect for setting the mood....(Click here to watch the music video for this song)......I remember thinking that hanging with Randy must be what it's like to be a storm chaser! I always think of him when I hear that "tunage."

Another great memory is Randy's hilarious whiny, high pitched mimicking of Andy Rooney's(60minutes), "Ever wonder why...." Don't know how that got started but soon after Randy started doing it, everybody in Duke Manor was doing it.

And probably my favorite......my girlfriend then, and my wife now, and I were moving and of course Randy was there to help as he always was. My wife's father, Jim, was also helping and had never met Randy before. I noticed Jim kept looking at Randy and he pulled me to the side and said," I just figured it out, Randy looks like the Superman actor" and right at that moment, Randy walks out the front door carrying an entire sofa by himself. Jim looked at me and said, "My God, that is superman" and I said, "And that's no act."
Randy will always be in my mind and heart.

1979, From Cleo, Randy's Mom

When I was 42 and my son, Randy, was 17, he decided it was time I learned to ride a dirt bike. Okay, I thought, what the heck. Then I could ride with the "guys", my three stepsons and my son, through all the open land around Princeton Junction at the time.

I rode around on some fields and felt pretty comfortable with it. One day all the guys get together and they invite me to join them. We ride over hill and dale, along power lines and finally into a new field being cleared for more homes.

As I rode ahead, having a great time, I all of a sudden felt my bike stop right under me--I was hung up on a big tire rut and could not move. I turned the bike off and turned around to wait for the guys to come help me. But they didn't. They all agreed I had to know how to get out by myself. Soooooo, they said, get on, hold on, gun it and steer. Sounded easy. I got on, started the motor, held on and gunned it...my body flew straight out in back of me and I am headed straight for the woods!! I hear Randy yell at me "GET CONTROL" and so I did. I pulled myself up on the bike, turned away from the trees towards the road and was soon on solid ground and feeling just fine.

What I learned that day was that if I get out of control, I can still take the control back--I just have TO DO IT! And I have ever since.

2000-2001, Trever (Newport Beach, CA), Friend

In 2000 my friends and I moved from Chicago to Newport Beach, CA.  There were four of us that moved out and were always together. About 2 weeks into our new adventure we met Randy and it soon became five.

Trever, Andy, Zak, Hippo and Randy aka: The Boyz) He was so fun to be around. His laugh and loyalty were second to none. We gave him a nickname from one of the characters on the show, "Seinfeld" named "Puddy". He reminded us of that character so much. Randy never saw the show or the character but always took it in stide. Before we would all go out, he hop on his lime green bike and ride down to the potential bar, to report on the girl count. He wanted to make sure we didn't waste any time at the wrong bar. We would go out, have few drinks and when we got home Randy would insist that we wrestle. (He was about 50 pounds heavier than me.)

When Randy left to go to Florida we were all disappointed. The boyz still share stories about that first year with Randy.  They were the best!

We will miss him dearly and I will never forget him.

Enrique Bascon Canales, Teacher

Well, there is something I trust, I really trust, and that is my
intuition, Randy has the most amazing heart you can imagine, and
it is alive in a lot of different ways, people die, that is a reality, but
their hearts are  living with  us. Between us. Their hearts are always
saying what is the wrong answer. Cleo, this is a message for you,
and for his heart throught you, smile! He loves your smile.

And sorry for my English.
You know, we all are trying... And me too, in spite of myself.  

From Sally Heirsch, a friend of Cleo’s

For My Dear Cleo and Randy

*** Written in 2007 ****
I know not how many tears you wept
How many nights you have not slept
Of course I can not say I felt your pain
Only your love for him did keep you sane

I guess you should know that I wept too
Perhaps because I’m a mother as are you
I did not know your precious son
Whose life, his work seemed to have just begun
But I felt a communion through you -not strange...

** 3/19/08 *****
Today I read the many lines
Of love, Of life of great, good times
He lives and dwells within your heart
And others who knew him he still is a part

You were joined together for months prior to birth
Then came the day we do celebrate --his intro to earth
And today and forever there will be a different cord
It shall bind you together –it’s attached to your heart

This cord will be your lifeline when you need him near
It will push, it will pull you and take away any fear
May there be peace and comfort in one thought that’s true
This bond, this cord always present --the love that you knew

There are signs he sends to you
Hello there Mom ! I’m right here too
I know by written words soul mates you are
He’s up there !!!! Just look --he’s the brightest star !!!


Love, Peace
Sally

November 29, 1988, Tom Gallo

It was November 28, 1988 and I had just finished another painting and went to bed, exhausted. My room mate was already asleep. Sometime during the night we both woke up, heard a noise that sounded like a train coming through, stood up and grabbed each other's arms just as the roof split off our apartment complex and he and I were carried in the air by the tornado for a long ways until we were dumped into some shrubs.

I was bummed out. All my paintings and materials were buried under piles of rubble protected by the police so no one would loot. But I needed my stuff so the next day I mentioned what had happened to Randy and how important it was for me to get my paintings. Randy smiled, said, "Come on" and led me out to his shed where he got a buzz saw. It was getting late, so we got in his car and drove over to my apartment complex, or what was left of it. The police had left and everything was silent.

Randy walked to the top of the rubble and started cutting down through the roof (my apartment was on the 3rd floor of a 4-story building). It didn't take long and we were looking for my stuff. When I found a canvas, I wanted to holler but of course Randy would have killed me so I was quiet. He helped me save all my paintings and materials as well as my TV and other little stuff.

That's the kind of friend Randy was. He would go out on a limb (or a crumbled building) for a friend. I will miss him terribly and can only pray he is happy now.

1980's, Blair Hill, Friend

I know that for myself and everyone who knew Randy, we wish we could have been able to help him more in his time of need. For those like me, who don't tend to be the most upbeat, "happy go lucky" types, Randy was such a marvel.  His perpetual laugh and consistent exuberance was infectious and I couldn't help but be "up" while I was with him or talking with him."

February 2008, Cleo Robertson, Randy's Mom

I was visiting Israel in February of 2008. I took a day off from the tour group and went alone into the Jerusalem market, thousands of years old and full of old stalls selling wares. I saw one with piles of spices and when I walked in it was just wide enough for two people to pass. The Jewish owner asked me to sit down and he started bringing me tea and spice samples. I chose one after another, each smelling better and better, when all of a sudden the man said to me, "So, is your son with you?" My heart leaped and I asked with startled eyes, "Why do you ask me that?" (Randy was a lover of spices big time). "Oh, I don't know," he said offhandedly, "I just felt he was with you." And so I suppose he was, encouraging me to buy $71 worth of spices and I was happy to just to have the wonderful memory of this story.

Mid 1980s, Bill Boyarsky, co-worker

EVERY time I peel an Orange I remember Randy with a smile.  Randy and I were talking about some long forgotten programming detail, while I was peeling an orange, chunk by chunk.  Randy watched me, and (never being shy about expressing strong feelings) told me 'let ME show you the RIGHT way to peel orange'.  He promptly whipped out a penknife, slit the peel of the next orange into 4 quarters, and took each quarter off in one piece.  Clearly THE better way to peel an orange, and a technique I use to this day.....

Jason Willis,  Cousin

The story that sticks out in my mind is one that I have told every time I got to the dentist or bite down on something cold and metallic that doesn’t agree with all the metal I now have in my bottom rear teeth, because of Randy.

I was 14, I think, and we were out at the river where Karen, my Aunt, had some property and we were just spending time with family. It must have been Thanksgiving because the weather was perfect, the river was still high from the summer rains and many family members were there. I think we were roasting a pig, because Randy and I were getting firewood together for a big fire. However, there wasn’t an axe or chain saw, so we took it upon ourselves to gather long, firewood-ready trees together and just broke them into easy-to-use pieces. The idea was to place one strong log on the ground and then lay another over the top, resembling a cross. I would stand on one side, holding it to the ground while the other end was up in the air. Randy would jump on the end in the air with all his might, breaking the tree’s in halves or thirds or however it ended up. That was the way it was supposed to happen.

However, one time I was doing what I do best—day dreaming—and NOT standing on the end of the tree when Randy jumped on the end and, SMACK! This tree came up and hit me right in the jaw like one of Mike Tyson’s deadly upper cuts. After the initial shock, I started spitting out pieces of my back teeth like they were Tic Tac’s. It was a horrible feeling, but Randy, the big cousin he was, felt more horrible to have hurt his little cousin than my mouth hurt.

It was a “bonding” experience that we would never forget, ever. Every time we got together after that day, somehow the “big Randy hit little Jason in the mouth with a big tree” story always came up. It was a memorable experience, though my teeth have never forgiven me. Since then, every dentist who takes an x-ray of my mouth comes back in utter disbelief, looking at me like I spent way too much time as a competitor in Ultimate Fighting. I think that was the first time I ever met Randy. Thankfully, it wasn’t the last. I remember being in awe of Randy: he was strong, a “grown up,” and lived far away in North Carolina. He was kind and full of fun. Most of all, he was family.

Unfortunately, Randy left us prematurely. But he should not be gone from our memories. It’s cliché to say that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, but it’s the truth. I have metal teeth to remind me of the great person Randy was, and they will be with me for the rest of my life. But my teeth will not be my only reminder of Randy. Randy was a son, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, and a friend. I will remember him for those things, and those things he did exceptionally well.

2007, Andy Seay, Brother-in-law to Randy

When I think of Randy, I think of speed, passion and energy.

Speed.   Whether it was snow skis, jet skis, water skis, motorcycles, boats, roller coasters, parasails, or fast cars like his T-Bird, Randy did not like to move slowly. I could out run him but otherwise I could not keep up with him when it came to doing things fast. He even had a knack for meeting people fast. Many years ago he visited Lisa (Randy’s sister) and me in Paris. Lisa picked him up at the airport while I stayed at work. By the time they got home from the airport, Randy had a new, beautiful Argentinean girlfriend and I barely got a chance to see him as he danced his way through Paris.

Passion and Energy.  Anything Randy liked, he attacked. Whether it was programming code for CBR Associates, or trying to invent a new orthopedic chair strap to ease the discomfort of sitting for long hours at a computer, just playing around with a PC game or organizing the barbeque feast and clean up, he did not take a half-hearted approach. He went full out. As his friends all say, “You could count on Randy.

A Good Sport.   Randy was not a golfer. Way too slow for him. But he was a good sport and went out and played with his Dad (Carl) and me a couple of times over the years. Well, let me tell you, he attacked a golf ball the same way he did everything else and even though only one out of every four or five shots went straight—they ALL WENT FAR!!

So how do you sum up a guy who moved fast, couldn’t sit still long, loved action yet had the ability to sit long hours figuring out solutions to complex programming issues? A guy who loved to cook, loved to eat, but didn’t hide when it was clean-up time? A guy who never really asked me for anything over the years yet offered his help many times?

One thing I know. Many years from now when the details of these memories are hazy, I know I will always remember one outstanding thing about Randy. I know I will always remember his infectious smile, booming voice, and especially his big, full-bodied laugh—one that we will never hear again except as we replay it in our own heads!

George Santayance, Friend

In Memoriam:

With you a part of me hath passed away.
For in the peopled forest of my mind
A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
Shall never don again its green array.
Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,
Have something of their friendliness resigned;
Another, if I would, I could not find,
And I am grown much older in a day.
But yet I treasure in my memory
Your gift of charity, and young hearts ease,
And the dear honor of your amity,
For these once mine, my life is rich with these
And I scarce know which part may greater be,…
What I keep of you, or you rob from me.

Christmas 2006, Rachel Seay, Niece of Randy’s

One Christmas we were sleeping over at Uncle Randy’s house. The last morning he came into our bedroom with a tray filled with chocolate chip pancakes with syrup, and bacon and eggs. Uncle Randy sat on the side of the bed and ate breakfast with us! I love Uncle Randy!

2007, Russ Lounsbury, Long-time friend 

Written for the Memorial Service

I want to say to all of you, friends and family of Randy that I wish I was here to speak these words in person. Not only to those gathered but to Randy as well.
I had no idea the troubles that were facing you Randy. To me you were always and will always be the big fellow with the big laugh and the confidence to do anything.

I got my first motorcycle from you and went on my first motorcycle road trip with you. It was a magical experience. I and many of my friends were awed by your ability to ride wheelies on anything with two wheels. I have pictures of you in my photo album of you doing just that. It was a skill you were attempting to teach a few of us one summer evening, and everyone seemed to be getting the hang of it except for Steve Coe. In your frustration you told Steve to rev it up to 8000 rpm and dump the clutch. Poor Steve didn’t realize you were kidding. The image of Steve running down the street behind his vertical motorcycle, holding on to the handlebars, is one I will never forget. Or Steve, lying on the ground with said motorcycle on top of him and you tapping him on the helmet and asking if he was ok.

Randy I want to apologize to you for not knowing you were having a difficult time and neglecting our friendship. We always picked up right where we left off which made being your friend easy.

I love you and miss you,

Russ

Nicole Seay,  10 years old, Niece of Randy’s

We were at Uncle Randy’s house and we were all in his pool. He came out with water balloons and gave each of us 5. We then had a water-balloon fight. It was great fun. Uncle Randy was always fun to be with. I miss him.

Chris Johns, former co-worker

I worked with Randy for 4-5 years. The thing I remember most is that I was considered Randy's interpreter for many of our co-workers. See, I come from a long line of computer-geeks and was fluent in "Randy-speak" as many of our co-workers referred to it and I was always happy to help.

Randy was a really great guy. I always looked forward to working on projects that he was involved in. I miss him very much; especially his laugh.

Summer of 2006, Beth Morean, friend

Last summer (2006) Randy spent a lot of time at my house on the beach.  He loved the water (and the Undertow Beach Bar was within walking distance, but that is another story!) It started to storm and everyone came up from the beach to sit it out on my back porch. All at once Randy decided he wanted to go for a swim in the storm.  He asked and asked everyone to go with him, laughing his great laugh the whole time.  He couldn't get anyone to go swimming in that storm so he took off by himself.  He ran down to the beach and just took off into the water with his shirt still on!  Then he ran back up to the porch; when he came up he grabbed a towel to dry off.  That's when he realized that his shirt pockets were full of baby greenbacks (minnows). He gathered every one up that had fallen on the porch deck and took off with them back to the water. He had to save all those little minnows, and he did!  We will all miss this kind and gentle man and his great laugh.

June of 2006, Gediminas Pakalnis, good friend

I was staying on a boat in downtown St. Petersburg and “babysitting” a friend’s dogs. As usual on the weekends I liked to call Randy to check out what was going on. It was always fun to listen to him, especially when we had topics about wrestling and/or judo, girls and business. On one particular weekend I was bored so I called Randy. Randy picked up the phone and said “what’s up man?” and right away after me saying that I was bored Randy announced, “G-Man I have a business plan for you!”

I said, “Yes, what kind of business plan?”
Randy said quickly, “Listen, just listen to me for a moment. I came up with something very interesting that will benefit both of us, ha-ha-ha (he laughed quite loudly)!!!  I asked “What is that? What do you have?”
Randy said excitedly, “Just be patient. You are still a certified Judo coach in the US , right?”  “Yes,” I replied. “You may not know, Randy, but I even teach at Eckerd College and St. Pete Judo several times a week now.”
Randy said “Okay, okay. Here is the deal. We will provide self-defense services to Buccaneers’ cheerleaders. I got some contact info and I know who to contact.”

I asked “Who are cheerleaders, what does cheerleader mean?” (I’m from Lithuania and I had never heard the word before.)  Randy responded with joy in his voice, “Oh man. These are the prettiest girls on this planet… that dance during the Buccaneer’s games.”   “Oh, okay,” I replied. “How are you going to get hold of them?”  Randy said, “It’s simple. Hey, all you need to do is just to teach them basic stuff and I will take care of everything else, ha-ha-ha!!!”
Hearing his great laugh, I said “Let’s do it.”  Randy ended by saying, “I’m telling you it will be great for both of us!” followed by his wonderful laugh.

1984, Cleo, Randy's Mom

 Randy and I were sharing a small graduate student apartment while we developed our software for Quality Management at Duke University Medical Center. One evening Randy came running in and said, “Come on, Mom, Cindy Lauper is singing at Duke!” I ran with him to my car, we drove over and sure enough, there were a few last minute tickets available, cheap, and we were soon inside sitting in the “nose bleed” section…our heads were touching the roof of the gym.

I am not the patient sort and I wanted to move closer to the stage 3 tiers below but knowing how conservative Randy can be, I said nothing to him. I just excused myself to go to the bathroom. Instead I went right down to the first floor where the private section was, walked up to the policeman guarding the section and said, “For goodness sakes, when is the show going to start? It’s already 10 minutes late!” The policeman apologized profusely and I said, “Well, thank you, I’ll try to be patient,” as I walked right into the private section as though I owned it. I found a seat 5 rows from the stage.

Suddenly the lights went out, the drums rolled, and we all waited expectantly. When the lights when on again, to my surprise, there was Randy walking into my row to sit next to me. I said, “How did you get here?” He laughed and said, “I saw you enter this section so when the lights went out, I just rolled over the railings floor to floor and here I am!” Needless to say we had a great time…again.

Early 90's, Brenda Sorrell, co-worker and friend

When Randy left CBR, we gave him a sweat shirt with "Magic Man" written on the front of it.  And, magic he was.  There was magic in his work, magic in the twinkle in his eyes and smile.  And, great magic in his laugh.  I had not seen Randy in many years, but tried to keep up by inquiring about him.  The magic lasted in my memories and I will miss him.  When he left CBR, knowing I would cry, I wrote him a note and in that note I quoted the Irish blessing that in part says... until we meet again, may the God who loves us all hold you in the palm of his hand.  That is still my prayer.

I read an Indian saying recently that says..
When you are born, you cry and the world rejoices.  Live your life so that when you die, the world cries, and you rejoice.  Randy left us too soon and I have personally cried many tears, but it is his time to rejoice.

6/01/76, Cleo, Randy's Mom

One day Randy came home dragging a box. Someone had offered him a complete dirt bike...in pieces...for $100. He set all the pieces out in the garage of our Slayback House in Princeton Junction, NJ and began reassembling it immediately. It took about a week but then one Saturday I was in the kitchen and I heard the whining of a loud motor. He did it! That bike ran, missing a few pieces but no worse off for it, for several years and then he sold it to me. He taught me to ride and he, stepsons, Dan and Dave and I went off into the woods and fields enjoying the free life. He was always able to make things work. See the photo of the bike as he is teaching me how it works in #17 photo.

2006, Enrique Bascon Canales

Really, he was a good man.  My best friend's son. I met him, when we, Cleo and me, visited in his house. His soul is in another fortunate person.
 

Submitted by Rashmi , Atul, Amulya,  friends

There are lots of memories we have with Randy. Randy showed us how to live American life. We are from India and when we moved here just like any other person we were completely new to the life over here. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving & Christmas with him and his family, He never made us feel like we are different he made us feel like we are just like he is.

He was a very close friend of Atul and more close to my daughter Amulya. He use to play a lot with her, he use to behave just like her and she use to have lot of fun with him. He was very good with the kids, very good cook, he loves spicy food and he always appreciated Indian food. I use to love cooking for him. Whenever we go out for lunch with him he always preferred eating in Indian restaurants.

I remember first time when we went with him to his mom party I had never eaten seafood in my life and everybody ordered lobster and I don't know how to eat lobster never tasted it, I think someway he realized it that I don't know how to eat this big giant lobster and my daughter was on my lap. He took the main meat from lobster and he helped me in eating that without any hassle, after that I started eating American food because he made me feel more comfortable eating different food.

He was very a intelligent man. He gave us lots of knowledge for very different things and he was always interested to know more about anything. My daughter she learned saying GOO GOO GAA GAA from him she still remembers him a lot. He came to my daughter birthday party in April. Whenever our friends came from India he use to invite them and take care of them just like any other family member. Randy is part of our family and He will always be we can never forget him.

Summer of 2004, Submitted by CapmWoody, friend

I was doing some computer work for Cleo one day and Randy was in another room working on his computer with some sports game on the radio which was barely audible to me. The house was pretty quiet when all of a sudden there came this blood curdling scream from the other room that nearly knocked me off my seat. The kind of sound you'd make if your hand was caught in the garbage disposal.

I jumped up and ran to see what had happened.  Randy was sitting calmly at his computer.  Apparently, either something had happened at the game that he disapproved of, or he had received one of those Windows error messages. He had merely made his statement of contempt and moved on as if nothing had happened. You should have heard that scream.

1972, Cleo, Randy's Mom

One day when Randy was about 9, he came to me and said, "Mom, I want to show you something." I stopped doing whatever I was doing and we walked over a couple of blocks from our house in Princeton Junction, NJ to a back road along a farmer's fence. There was a huge skateboard ramp he had built out of leftover wood he found from a construction site. Very nimbly he sped up to the top, pivoted on one wheel and turned and came careening down towards me. He had the biggest smile on his face. When I asked him if he built it, his simple answer was, "Yup." There is a photo (thumbnail #3) of him on the All Photos page of this site turning on the top of the ramp.

Cleo, Randy's Mom

"At one point when Randy was programming the hospital software for me, I asked him if it could do something I really wanted.  He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Mom, I can make it do anything you want."

He was true to his word too.
 

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