Jennifer Randell:
CLASS OF 1974
Oakwood High SchoolClass of 1974
North canton, OH
Kent State University - Stark CampusClass of 1978
Canton, OH
Plain Center Elementary SchoolClass of 1968
Canton, OH
Jennifer's Story
Life
Greetings from Canton, Ohio! Although not the garden spot of the world, I've always liked living here. After high school I attended the KSU Stark Campus where I had a wonderful opportunity to major in music. I ended up at Mount Union College where I stayed in the music program until I took Religion 101 and Religions of the World. I had wonderful professors in each of those classes and abruptly switched my major to Religion & Philosophy of all things. After studying many different religions, I realized there was one I hadn't studied, so I called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and spoke to some wonderful young men & women who were serving a two year (1 1/2 yrs. for the women) mission. I joined the church in 1978. Because the church has a lay ministry, there was no longer any reason to study it in college! I moved to Utah a year later (1979), worked for a dentist until my marriage to David Walker in 1982. We divorced in 1986. In 1987 David "discovered" he was gay, and is now living with a nice guy named Wade (we have remained friends). I went to work in emergency medicine (as an EMT instructor) and police dispatcher. I found I really missed my family, so I moved back to Ohio in 1987. I worked for my dad for awhile, then found my job at The Repository and have been there ever since (almost 15 years). I started taking guitar lessons from Phil Margolis in 1990 and bought a beautiful white Les Paul which was fate. I met a fellow blues player, Jim Randell, in 1991. He played lead (slide as well) to my rhythm. We married in 1994 and were very happy. Jim was born with cystic fibrosis and outlived the normal CF life expectancy by 21 years (CF males usually only make it to age 30 or so). He died this past June (2003) at age 51, at University Hospitals of Cleveland, specifically in Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital (they have an adult CF floor). This is the most tragic and traumatic thing that's ever happened to me. I now volunteer for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation doing fundraising. I work on my in-home business, The Memory Maker, in my spare time and sing in my church choir and solo. It's been an unusual life in some respects, but I have some beautiful memories and hopefully a full life yet to come.
School
Did you know:
* I was ADHD as a child. They didn't call it that back then, but I always had a huge attention deficit problem. Fortuna...Expand for more
tely I've been able to concentrate much better as I've gotten older.
* I was given tranquilizers in the second grade. They made me fall asleep in class! Either ritalin wasn't invented yet or wasn't used for the purpose of getting children to stay focused!
* Cindy Padgitt used to poke pencils into my arms? My parents had her parents in the principal's office on more than one occasion. I realize now my hyperactivity must have disturbed the other kids, but come on!
* My grade school years were sheer torture with the exception of the third grade. I had Miss Meinzen who was beautiful both inside and out. Her class was the one bright spot in my miserable grade school years. I still remember Marty Morris telling her that he didn't like the king fisher bird. When asked why, Marty replied (this is an exact quote), "Because he don't comb his hair!"
* I loved my seventh grade year at Middlebranch Junior High. I had Mrs. Scoggins (I think that was her name!) for English, Mr. Simmers for science and Bill Mormon for art. All three were outstanding teachers and for the first time I was focused enough to do well and enjoy learning. Bill Mormon had sanded the top of his acoustic guitar and painted paisleys all over it. It thought that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!
* Bruce Shelley made high school for me. After I'd inadvertently gotten his predecessor fired for unzipping his pants in front of me (he was just tucking in his shirt tail), I found choir and Drifters to be the most exciting and wonderful opportunities I'd had up to that point. That experience is still the highlight of my younger years.
Workplace
I've worked at The Repository for almost 15 years. I enjoy the busy newsroom atmosphere. I work in the classified advertising department where I take ads and obituaries over the phone, by fax and email. We are constantly working under deadline which can be rather frustrating and stressful at times, but I work with wonderful people which helps make up for the stress. I also have a fledgling business in my home called The Memory Maker. I laminate obituaries, make shadow boxes and do genealogical research. Genealogy is my most rewarding hobby, so doing this as a job is a lot of fun. By-the-way, our Plain Local Schools education has been a great benefit to me. You can't believe how many illiterate people I come in contact with every single day!
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