Russell E Randall

Russel E Randall

Born: January 30, 1926
Parents: Arthur and Orpha Randall
Birthplace: Dykes, Kentucky
Baptized: Lockland Baptist Church, Lockland OH
Church: Fairborn Baptist Church since 1966
Time and Date of Death: 11:05 PM, October 21, 2023
Military Service:
Rank: Corporal, Cryptographic Tech.
Serial Number: 15 407 402
Unit: 765th AAF BU
Theater: China Offensive
Spouse: Married Joyce Randall Sept 3, 1943,
Widowed February 9, 2017

Russell E Randall died October 21, 2023 at the age of 97. He served in the army during
WWII, in China, attached to an intelligence group tasked with intercepting and
decoding enemy communications.

After the war Russ graduated from Wilmington College as a beneficiary of the GI Bill and
worked a long career with the department of defense as a contract officer; working on
the development of the U2 and as the contract officer purchasing every part of the
famous SR-71 Blackbird aircraft. He was a highly respected member of the SR-71
development program.

He married his wife Joyce (Deceased 2017) in 1943. He had two children, Joanne Mott
and David Randal (deceased 2023), 9 grandchildren, with a great-grandchild expected.
Russ went on several mission trips with the Ohio Southern Baptist Builders: Uganda and
Brazil to help build churches, and South Florida (Homestead) after the category 5
Hurricane Andrew destroyed many homes in 1992.

He and his wife Joyce spent many summers at Seneca Lake summer camp for kids
where Russ taught the kids archery and the art of fishing. Joyce suffered dementia in her
later years and Russ's friends and family remember his tender patience as he attended
her.

Russ was active at First Baptist Church in Fairborn, Ohio; attending there for 56 years
and serving many of those years as a deacon or trustee, Russ also planned many trips
for the Senior Adults, and he often drove the Church van on those trips.

A graveside service is being planned to lay Russ beside his wife in a cemetery in Yellow
Springs Ohio.