Always up for a challenge
Published Tuesday January 6th, 2009
She is a woman of many talents who leads a busy, interesting life.
Carol Randall contracted polio at age seven. It left her with many physical challenges but she never allowed it to stop her from doing what she wanted to do.
"I owe a lot of it to my parents. I wasn't confined to anything. I joined in everything. I was never held back."
Randall has achieved many things and continues to take on new challenges and adventures every day.
Her dog DeeJay, a gorgeous rottweiler, sits by her side looking to be scratched behind the ears. Randall is a dog lover and has been since childhood when her father used to breed German shepherds.
She lost another rottweiler, named Clancy, last January. It's still hard for Randall to talk about her without tears.
She adopted this dog from the SPCA. Right away she knew Clancy was special. With training, the dog became a great help to her with her physical limitations.
"I had Clancy trained as an assistance dog. She'd pick things up for me. She'd open up doors."
Randall is very close to her family, including her brother and sister and her parents. She talks to her mother every night on the phone.
"We're blessed with our family because we get along terrifically. There's no fighting."
Always a tomboy, she says, her memories include watching Hockey Night in Canada with her dad.
Trained as an accountant she worked as a bookkeeper. She liked numbers and she loved sports. She kept sports statistics for local bantam hockey teams. This led to her dream job in 1972.
"I corresponded with Ron Andrews who'd had polio and who was an NHL statistician."
When the National Hockey League (NHL) needed a statistical researcher, he recommended her for the job. So she moved to Montreal where she became the NHL's first female in a role outside of the secretarial pool.
For eight years, she says, it was everything she thought it would be. But in 1980 there were changes taking place that made things difficult so she decided it was time to move on.
She was offered a job with Baseball New Brunswick and became its executive director. A couple of years later she also accepted work with Softball New Brunswick and she did all of this from home. She has always wanted to be busy, never was one to sit and simply watch TV.
She has always thought it is better to do something you love even if it doesn't pay well rather than to do a job you dislike for more money.
She met Eldon McGarrigle at a baseball game 28 years ago. He was on the field and she couldn't help but notice him.
They started to date, became a couple and bought a home together. The cute cedar-shingled bungalow was one she'd always liked. When it was available to buy she didn't hesitate, she recalls.
Randall worked hard to earn the money to buy it and she is proud to call it her own. As she sits in the living room, she says she wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
"My home is far from grandiose but it's comfy and it's good enough for what we two want."
For 15 years she worked for the provincial government. In 2000 she decided it was time to retire.
The years since then have been busy ones for Randall. Every day, as soon as she has dressed and eaten, she goes to her home office to work. The hours pass quickly and before she knows it, the day is over and it's time for bed. There is so much to do and so many things she is interested in, she can't imagine being bored.
Randall will turn 65 in March. She likes asking people to guess her age because often they say she is at least a decade younger. Randall will soon receive her Canada Pension but she says she never plans to really retire because she's always ready for her next adventure.
"I always like new challenges."
When asked where she sees herself in five years and what she sees herself doing, she can't answer. It's a safe bet, though, that she will involve herself in something interesting.
In the summer months she motors around the city on a scooter. In a front basket she carries her camera in case she sees something she wants to capture.
She has turned her talents into two home-based businesses. She takes pet and landscape photos and she turns them into framed canvas artwork, magnets, postcards, calendars, fridge magnets and more. She also does framed pet memorials.
"What I also enjoy doing now is putting together slideshows set to music."
Randall always saves exciting new projects for the winter months when she spends more time indoors.
Now she is working on the second volume of what she expects will be a four-volume series of books with co-author Bob McNeil on the homes and properties in Devon. Working on these books appeals to the researcher and statistician in her as well as to her love of history.
Life has taught her that one is as happy as one chooses to be and she is.
"I find I'm quite content."
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