Randall Lee Level—a husband, father of three, and grandfather of seven—passed away on July 12, just hours shy of his 78th birthday.
Randy, as most called him, grew up in Luray, Virginia, the first of five children to Page and Mildred Level. His parents, aunts, and uncles nurtured his interests in sports, movies, and card games, and instilled in him a dedication to his two strongest values in life: education and responsibility to family. Randy consistently showed kindness and caring toward his siblings Sandi, Cathy, Clint, and Becky. They regard him as a great brother, and to the end of his life, he took great pleasure in their visits, phone calls, and letters.
Academically, Randy developed a love of reading and languages at Luray High School where he graduated at age 17. However, he put his academic pursuits on hold the following year when he enlisted in the Army—despite the likelihood of being sent to war. Selected for flight school while training to be an officer, Randy learned to fly helicopters before ever driving a car. In Vietnam from 1968-69, he flew missions with the 1st Cavalry Division and survived his helicopter going down seven times. Never one to inflate his experience, he would always point out, “I was only shot down one time. The rest were mechanical failures.”
After Vietnam, Randy was stationed in Germany before returning to study history at Virginia Tech, where he excelled. While conducting thorough research for his senior thesis, he drove across country to spend his spring break studying in the library at Stanford University. “They had a book I needed,” was his explanation. His 130-page essay won an award which helped him gain admission to the University of Virginia School of Law. For more than thirty years, he made his career as a lawyer, first in private practice, then in the Air Force and finally at Boeing.
During that time, Randy married Eva Foster and they raised three children: Page, Emily, and Henry. He provided them with opportunities to travel, nurtured their interests—from horses to Sonics basketball games—and paid the full cost of their college educations. Above all, he gave his children good company, sage advice, and laughter. In time he provided the same to his stepdaughter Andrea Kay and his daughters-in-law, Jean and Camila.
Having remarried in 1995, Randy and Julie designed the house where they would live the rest of his life. Over the last thirty years, he cultivated his many interests and hobbies. He gardened, painted landscapes and portraits, played Bridge, shot pool, traveled, read books, and wrote stories. He bottled wine from the grapes he grew in his vineyard and made cider from the apples in the orchard. He invested himself into family genealogy as fervently as he once studied history and law. Randy demonstrated that though life is not infinite, the good ways to spend it are.
Randy did many things very well, but none better than fulfill his role as Granddad to Catherine, Julian, James, Sal, Madeline, Abby, and William. He showed them love through gentle hugs, generosity through unique gifts, and joy through the constant laughter he incited. Knowing him in his final years, they will remember their Granddad as a man who enjoyed the little things: smoke rings from a pipe while sitting on the front porch, a heaping bowl of Tillamook ice cream, old movies, dry humor, and always, always Diet Coke.
The family welcomes friends and relatives to Randy’s funeral service at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, WA, on Friday, September 19th at 2:00 p.m.
