Our hearts are broken trying to accept that James “Jim” Warren Randall slipped away quietly on his final fly fishing journey on his 86th birthday.
Jim was a lifelong Washingtonian. He was born at home in Winlock, WA to Beaulah (Johnson) and Dick Randall. He had a 30 year career as a bank manager and agricultural loan officer in eastern Washington. Jim and his wife Gloria moved to Port Ludlow in 2013 and to Port Townsend in 2020 to be closer to their son Jeff’s family.
Jim met his future wife Gloria Sorensen in high school. She was a county girl and he was a town boy. They shared a ride to a football game and a week later had their first date at the movies. They were married September 7, 1957 and were married 62 years. Our hearts sang the same song.
Jim is remembered as a generous, patient, intelligent man with great enthusiasm for outdoor recreation, motor boats, snowmobiles, and motorcycles. He loved to catch and release fish at Banks, Dry Falls, Castle, Northrup, Moses, and Lenore lakes with his good friend and neighbor Alan Fox. Jim became an expert bamboo fly rod builder and tie flyer and had a mail order business called Coulee Fly Fisher.
Jim delighted in taking risks whether in the stock market, snowmobiling across a frozen Banks Lake to have lunch, riding an unfamiliar horse on a backcountry trip with friends (including surviving the horse rearing and falling on him), riding dirt bikes in the backcountry of eastern Washington with reckless companions, and fishing the rivers and lakes of eastern Washington with his favorite fishing buddy Bill Sieg. They caught many steelhead on the Methow River near Pateros over the years.
Jim was treasurer of the Columbia Fly Fisher’s club in Moses Lake which met once a week for years. He was also a member of the Eagles, Elks, Toastmasters, elected as council member to the town of Coulee City, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He also was a gun safety instructor and volunteered at the annual children’s fishing derby at Banks Lake.
Jim was very proud of his son Jeff, who graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in political science, a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law, a licensed attorney, and an elected commissioner for the Jefferson Public Utility District. He enjoyed his grandson Soren’s piano playing, enthusiasm for reading and telling jokes.
He is survived by his wife Gloria, his older brother Ralph Randall of Vancouver, Washington, his son Jeff Randall of Port Townsend, grandson Soren Randall, and many cousins in Wisconsin.
He was predeceased by his sister Geraldine Ferrier of Olympia, who passed away in 2019. His family thanks Dr. Gary Forbes for his care at the end of Jim’s life.
There is no public service planned.
