Jack Randle

Commander Jack Randle
Resident of Santa Cruz
Commander Jack Randle passed away on March 16 at his home in Santa Cruz with his wife of 61 years, Shirley, at his side. He lost his long battle with Parkinson's disease in his 92nd year, after an honorable and distinguished life of service with the United States Navy.
Commander Randle was born on Nov. 27th, 1920, in Hollister, Missouri but spent most of his youth in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Neosho, Missouri. He started his Naval career when leaving college where he excelled in Physics and Mathematics. The ranks of Ensign, Lieutenant, and Lieutenant Commander preceded his attainment of Commander as he served as CIC officer on the Carrier Randolph. While advancing in the ranks of officership, he attended classes at UC Berkeley in Nuclear Physics.
Although ships and the sea were the focus of his Naval Training, it was the skill of flying for which he trained in Pensacola, Florida, that became the primary enthusiasm of his Naval activities.
It was at Line school in Newport, Rhode Island, where he met the love of his life, Shirley Chace, and together they lived in stations throughout the world. His final duty was instructing officers in the duties of carrier leadership at the Brunswick, Georgia Naval Air Station.
He was a man of many talents, among which was a fine sense of architectural design, having designed two of their homes, the last of which is where he spent the final years of his life.
Commander Randle was preceded in death by his parents Bob and Clyda Randle, and his three brothers, Bob, Bill and Durant Randle, each of whom held officer rank in the U.S. armed forces. He is survived by his wife, Shirley.
Shirley's last thoughts her husband as she sat by his side in the last minutes of their long life together, were her words of farewell, "Thanks, Jack, for a wonderful 61 years of love and companionship."
There will be no memorial and, at this request, when appropriate, his ashes will be joined by Shirley's, to be scattered together, at sea.