Edwin Harold Randa

Edwin Harold Randa was born to Laina and Walter Randa in Superior Wisconsin on November 6, 1926, a birthdate he was to share with his mother, older brother Walfred and of late with his great grandson Devon. Ed passed on December 29 after a short but intense battle with cancer. Ed will be remembered by those who knew him as that hard working Finn. A WWII naval veteran, Ed early on worked as a Chevrolet mechanic and speed handle expert long before air tools, and then as a mechanical and piping employee at Hanford, growing into the engineering genius he was. There wasn’t a device made by man that he couldn’t figure out how to repair, well maybe that Mercedes Benz fuel injection system did stretch his metal a bit.

Married to Phyllis Barott in September 1946, they raised Dennis and Cynthia in the West Richland and Grandview areas. Ed went on to work overseas building “nucs” in Japan and Spain as well as in the states, moving back to Grandview to work on WNP#2 as a construction project manager. He also built a fully automatic orchard water management system on 10 acres of apples and cherries. In 1989 he moved to his shop and retirement home in West Richland to restore and enjoy his 55 Chevy 2 door hardtop along with his favorite VW bugs. His shop was the envy of any who entered it. But Ed’s delight was his yard and the pleasure it brought him. Of course the best part was shutting off the irrigation, draining the water and heading off for Yuma in the fall for a winter’s respite in that mild climate, where he had a shop to make his wind toys and restore a bug for use there. And there was the lake house in Minnesota where he’d sit on the dock for hours watching the water and wetting a line, thinking about all of those years spent growing up and the struggles of his youth and the depression. His first paycheck from the navy went to buy a washing machine for his mother.

Ed’s interests were as varied as his life was long. He loved cars and in the 50s raced stock cars with Glenn Hawley, Ed fixed ‘m and Glenn drove ‘m. They had a lot of fun. Ed was a consummate mouth harp player, even laying down some grooves in plastic with Sonny Hanson. He brought tears to the eyes when he played. He loved to hunt deer with his father-in-law Pappy Barott and the salmon in Alaska were known to celebrate when he left from visiting his son there. He enjoyed a round of golf with his wife or friends when the occasion arose. Ed was a Mason for most of fifty years, joining the fraternity of men of the Masonic Brotherhood in Grandview in the 1960s, then joining the fraternal order of Shrinedom in Yakima as a member of the Masada Shrine Temple.

The automobile was, as Phyllis says, his first love, and continued to be so throughout his life. He drove everywhere, Minnesota, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas where his daughter lives; visiting along the way with his grandchildren, Wendy in Nevada, Jason in Nebraska, Dalen in California, Denee in Alaska not to mention his 4 great grandchildren and 4 great great grandchildren. He loved to drive, mom navigated. He only recently gave up the wheel when he, of his own, realized that it wasn’t smart to continue. Ed’s unconditional love for his family and friends will be missed. His neighbors will miss his advice on gopher eradication. He is survived by his brother, Arvo and sister, Mary Jane both of Minnesota, as well as many nieces and nephews across the country.

Internment will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Sunday January 3, 2010 at 2:00PM with a reception to follow at the nearby Event Center snacks and refreshments. Information at 509-628-0664.