Roscoe Clifford Randall died on September 23, 2022. Born on March 8, 1927, and second of a ten-member brood. “Cliff” was often the glue of the family, his church, the Lions Club, and just about every group or gathering with which he was associated. His Lions Club card motto was “For those who say it can’t be done, get out the way of those of us who are already doing it.”

Born to Elwyn and Hilda (Moss) Randall in Sanford, Maine, Cliff was both a child of and product of the Depression. “Heck, we didn’t know we were poor, everyone was poor.” He and his siblings contributed to the family coffers from the start. But the real impact of the times was how it fueled his desire to make everything and everyone around him happier and better. His sister, Rita, tells of when Cliff got home from the Navy, he gave his mom his muster money and the kids got new outfits.

Skipping graduation, after turning eighteen, in March 1945, Cliff enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific as a Machinist Mate on Submarine tenders. As the war ended, and lacking the points to go home, Cliff volunteered for what is now called the Atomic Warriors project. Secret until declassified in the 90s, the volunteers were witness to atomic test detonations in the South Pacific, following which, the witnesses were immediately returned to the States and released from service.

A friend and schoolmate had asked him, upon his early return to Sanford, to look in on his girlfriend, Harriet Acker. Cliff not only checked in on her, but he also married her. For 69 years Harriet followed Cliff’s lead in adventure after adventure. She also vetoed a few.

After college on the GI bill, and teaching Industrial Arts (IA) in Maine, with two children, he made the decision to apply to be a teacher in DOD schools overseas. Headed for Germany, or so he thought, the assignment was switched to Morocco. Quite a surprise for the young family and more Cliff. Confidently arriving as the IA teacher, he was immediately told that the Physics teacher was leaving and ‘here’s the book.’ Harriet, the math whiz, tutored him through it.

The couple, now with three children, settled in Windsor Locks, CT and both Randalls started long careers teaching, but service was key. The Windsor Locks Lions Club was never the same. Years of Lions Auctions, parades, fundraisers, and cooking. Always cooking. Throughout it all his license plate…A Lion. Most any Lions club in New England knew Cliff.

As a Republican, Cliff ran for selectman in a 3 to 1 Democrat town and won with a 3 to 1 majority. He claimed it was his honest face. For eight years Cliff was an ‘administrator’ and emphatically ‘not a politician.’ Windsor Locks was the benefactor. In a small town everyone knows the Selectman and would call to get things done. Harriet refused to answer the phone calls that never stopped. Cliff never did, but he stopped running for reelection when Mom said ‘enough.’

Most retirees moved south, but Cliff and Harriet moved north back to Maine. He had been building things for years, but never his own house. Harriet wanted a ranch. She said she would clean one bathroom, one bedroom, one kitchen. Four bedrooms, two kitchens, four bathrooms and five garage bays later, he was still building. At 91, while in a rehab bed with a broken femur, he organized a survey, and then was general contractor for a new place near the beach in Wells, Maine. It never stopped. Are you starting to see a trend?

Cliff notables: We all knew Cliff because he fixed something for us, or cooked food at some Lions or church event. Maybe he roasted you at a meeting. But he was always right beside you on a project whether it was in Windsor Locks, Shapleigh Maine, Wells Beach or after hurricanes with the Red Cross in New Orleans, Virginia, Florida, or North Carolina.

Always up for some fun, his Lions mystery tours to just about anywhere were legendary. Many of you ventured into a brown bag party where any unwanted and sometimes bizarre items from your house were bagged and exchanged for someone else’s “treasures.” Everyone arrived with their junk and left with someone else’s junk. But it was fun.

Cliff was predeceased by his love, Harriet, brother Tom, and sister Hilda. He is survived by brothers Norman, Ken, and Bob, and sisters, Jean, Rita, Shirley, and Linda, and their spouses, Sister-in-law, Muriel Randall, Brother-in-law, Howard Acker, Sister-in-law, Beverly Acker; daughters, Melissa Gilbert (Danny), Priscilla Miller (David), and son Jeffrey Randall (Christine), six Grandchildren and seven Great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

We will be celebrating Cliff Randall at a memorial service on Sunday October 2, at 1:00 PM at St Georges Episcopal Church, 3 Emerson St, Sanford Maine with a reception to follow in the Rectory Hall. It was Cliff’s request that people be dressed to feel comfortable. All family and friends are welcome back to the Randall homestead at 214 Deering Ridge Road, Shapleigh ME. Dad would be pleased to host just one more gathering.

In lieu of flowers, if someone would care to give a gift in Cliff’s memory, he asked that it be to Acton/Shapleigh Lions Club, St Georges Episcopal Church, or Hospice of Southern Maine

Cliff and Harriet will be interred together at a later date in the Veteran’s Cemetery in Springvale, Maine.

Online tributes may be shared at Cliff’s Book of Memories at www.bibbersautumngreen.com

Arrangements are entrusted to Bibber Memorial at Autumn Green, 47 Oak St., in Alfred.