| Donald R. Randall |
D.C. Police Captain Cared for Those in Need
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Write
Friday, September 4, 2009
Donald Randall, 72, a retired captain with the D.C. police and a fundraiser and
volunteer for a number of charitable activities in the Washington area, died Aug. 29
of neck cancer at a hospice in Wilmington, N.C.
Mr. Randall joined the police department in 1959. He served for a time as the
department's lead recruiter and also handled all promotion and swearing-in
ceremonies.
He was a member of the police department honor guard that marched directly
behind the caisson carrying the body of President John F. Kennedy in November
1963. He also was a member of the D.C. Police Association Legislative Committee,
secretary-treasurer of the D.C. Police Federal Credit Union, and founder and first
president of the Metropolitan Police Officials Association, which represents D.C.
police at the rank of lieutenant and above.
After retiring as a detective captain in 1979, he conducted background
investigations for government agencies. He retired again in 1996 and moved to South
Carolina, first to Hilton Head and then to Myrtle Beach.
Donald Raymond Randall was born in the District and graduated from
Anacostia High School in 1953. He liked to recall practicing baseball on the Ellipse on a
summer afternoon in the mid-1940s when President Harry S. Truman, taking one of his daily
constitutionals, stopped and talked baseball with him.
He enlisted in the Navy at 17 -- with the concurrence of his parents and a juvenile court judge
-- and was honorably discharged in 1957 as a hospital corpsman 2nd class. He enrolled at
George Washington University but flunked out, he told friends, because he had difficulty
divorcing himself from the student union ping-pong table. He worked for a year as a D.C.
Water Department clerk-typist before joining the police department.
In 1972, he attended the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Va., and was one of 17 in a class
of 350 to receive the J. Edgar Hoover Certificate for Scholarly Excellence. A part-time student
at American University, he received his undergraduate degree, with honors, in the
administration of justice in 1978.
From 1977 to 1982, he was chairman of the golf committee for HEROES (Honor Every
Responsible Officers' Eternal Sacrifice), which conducted an annual tournament at Indian
Spring Country Club in Silver Spring to benefit widows and children of D.C. law enforcement
officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty.
He also founded a Washington chapter of the Sunshine Foundation, which attempts to provide
terminally ill children their last wish. In 1985, the District of Columbia Family Foundation
named him Man of the Year in recognition of his community service.
In 1991, Mr. Randall's next-door neighbors lost their month-old son to sudden infant death
syndrome. Mr. Randall and another retired police officer organized an annual charity golf
tournament at Turf Valley Country Club in Ellicott City to benefit SIDS research.
Mr. Randall was a lifelong Washington Redskins season ticket-holder. He also played
basketball, bowled and played golf, and at age 35 was named the outstanding slow-pitch
softball player in the District.
His wife, Evelyn "Ginger" Sulski Randall, died in 2004.
Survivors include three children, Donna Marie Smith of New Market, Va., Fred Dennis Randall
of Laytonsville and Deborah Aileen Hertel of Sherwood Forest, Md.; a sister, Kathy Walthall of
North Beach, Md.; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Write
Friday, September 4, 2009
Donald Randall, 72, a retired captain with the D.C. police and a fundraiser and
volunteer for a number of charitable activities in the Washington area, died Aug. 29
of neck cancer at a hospice in Wilmington, N.C.
Mr. Randall joined the police department in 1959. He served for a time as the
department's lead recruiter and also handled all promotion and swearing-in
ceremonies.
He was a member of the police department honor guard that marched directly
behind the caisson carrying the body of President John F. Kennedy in November
1963. He also was a member of the D.C. Police Association Legislative Committee,
secretary-treasurer of the D.C. Police Federal Credit Union, and founder and first
president of the Metropolitan Police Officials Association, which represents D.C.
police at the rank of lieutenant and above.
After retiring as a detective captain in 1979, he conducted background
investigations for government agencies. He retired again in 1996 and moved to South
Carolina, first to Hilton Head and then to Myrtle Beach.
Donald Raymond Randall was born in the District and graduated from
Anacostia High School in 1953. He liked to recall practicing baseball on the Ellipse on a
summer afternoon in the mid-1940s when President Harry S. Truman, taking one of his daily
constitutionals, stopped and talked baseball with him.
He enlisted in the Navy at 17 -- with the concurrence of his parents and a juvenile court judge
-- and was honorably discharged in 1957 as a hospital corpsman 2nd class. He enrolled at
George Washington University but flunked out, he told friends, because he had difficulty
divorcing himself from the student union ping-pong table. He worked for a year as a D.C.
Water Department clerk-typist before joining the police department.
In 1972, he attended the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Va., and was one of 17 in a class
of 350 to receive the J. Edgar Hoover Certificate for Scholarly Excellence. A part-time student
at American University, he received his undergraduate degree, with honors, in the
administration of justice in 1978.
From 1977 to 1982, he was chairman of the golf committee for HEROES (Honor Every
Responsible Officers' Eternal Sacrifice), which conducted an annual tournament at Indian
Spring Country Club in Silver Spring to benefit widows and children of D.C. law enforcement
officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty.
He also founded a Washington chapter of the Sunshine Foundation, which attempts to provide
terminally ill children their last wish. In 1985, the District of Columbia Family Foundation
named him Man of the Year in recognition of his community service.
In 1991, Mr. Randall's next-door neighbors lost their month-old son to sudden infant death
syndrome. Mr. Randall and another retired police officer organized an annual charity golf
tournament at Turf Valley Country Club in Ellicott City to benefit SIDS research.
Mr. Randall was a lifelong Washington Redskins season ticket-holder. He also played
basketball, bowled and played golf, and at age 35 was named the outstanding slow-pitch
softball player in the District.
His wife, Evelyn "Ginger" Sulski Randall, died in 2004.
Survivors include three children, Donna Marie Smith of New Market, Va., Fred Dennis Randall
of Laytonsville and Deborah Aileen Hertel of Sherwood Forest, Md.; a sister, Kathy Walthall of
North Beach, Md.; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Randall led many charity
groups in the D.C. area. (Family
Photo)
groups in the D.C. area. (Family
Photo)