Funeral services for James (Jim) Edmond Randol, 81, of Purcell will be held at 10 a.m.Friday, November 14, 2025 at the Wilson-Little Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Pauls Valley under the direction of the Wilson-Little Funeral Home.
Mr. Randol passed away Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at Norman Regional Hospital.
Jim was born November 5, 1944 in Pauls Valley Oklahoma, the first of two sons born to James Maston Randol and Modine Lozell (Potter) Randol.
He was raised mainly in Pauls Valley, attending school there, and graduated from Pauls Valley High School in 1963. He attended East Central University in the fall of 1963 then transferred to the University of Oklahoma in Norman for the Spring Semester of 1964. After that semester he went to work for his father in a Sinclair Service Station in Pauls Valley. Later that year he worked for Kerr McKee on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Then in January 1965 he went to work for Western Electric Corp in Oklahoma City.
In August 1965 he enlisted in the United States Air Force serving after boot camp and Tech School at Charleston AFB, South Carolina and Lajes Field AFB, Azores then in January1968 at McChord AFB, Washington.
While in the Azores his best friend and roommate introduced him to a sister, Grace Martha Haab of Ann Arbor, Michigan, via the mail. They wrote each other for about 14 months then finally met in January 1968 and were around each other for a total of four days then Jim went to McChord AFB while continuing to write Grace. In August 1968 he took leave to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for four days and while there he proposed to Grace. They were married on January 4, 1969 in Ann Arbor. They remained married for 52 years, 8 months and 14 days until her death on September 18, 2021.
After the Air Force they moved to Norman, Okla., where Jim re-entered OU for the fall semester 1969 and went back to work at Western Electric on the second shift. In December 1969 Jim joined the Oklahoma Air National Guard where he changed to an Aircraft Loadmaster and was an air crew member on the C124 aircraft and remained with the Air Guard until December 1972. In the mean time Jim graduated from OU in the spring of 1973 with an Electrical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree. After graduation Jim entered Graduate School and spent the summer taking classes at OU while expecting his and Grace’s first child, Mary Rose Randol, who was born on August 4, 1973.
In August 1973 Jim went to work for Texas Instruments of Dallas, Texas, where he remained until January 1993 as well as joining the United States Navy in June 1976 and was assigned to Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron 4 as an electronic tech. After four years assigned to that Squadron in San Diego, California, he went into the Navy Reserve Program in Dallas, Texas, as well as returning to Texas Instruments, Inc. in 1980. He continued there until 1993.
He then went to work for the United States Navy as a Contingency Engineer in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He remained there until retirement on October 1, 2004. While in Hawaii, and a Civil Engineer in the Navy Reserve, he achieved the Rank of Navy Captain in 2000.
Jim was preceded in death by his wife, Grace Martha (Haab) Randol; his parents, James M. and Modine L. Randol; his parents-in-law, John and Selma Haab of Ann Arbor, Mich., and sister-in-law, Mary Erna Shellenberger of Freemont, Indiana.
He is survived by daughters, Mary Rose (Randol) Webb (Todd Wayne) and Kathryn Ann (Randol) Holder (Joshua Eric Thomas); son, James Michael Randol (Tara Jean); six grandsons, Cody Thomas Webb, Brett Wayne Webb (Johnna Alexi Webb), Dalton Dean Holder, Brody James Holder, Michael James Randol and Andrew Scott Randol; six great-grandchildren, Lane Rhett Webb, Tripp Thomas Webb and Baker Wayne Webb, Karter Jae Foreman, Legend Wayne Webb, Toby Allen Webb and another great-grandboy on the way, as well as a brother, Kenneth Lewis Randol of Hockley, Texas, and his brother-in-law, Michael George Haab (Linda)) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and several nieces and nephews and a host of family and friends.
Online condolences may be made at www.wilsonlittle.com.