COMMUNITY LEADER RANDOL DEAD AT 83

Narvol A. Randol Sr., who distinguished himself as a tireless leader in banking, the military, and service to his community and church, died Friday at Southeast Missouri Hospital at 83.

Bank president, a brigadier general in the Missouri National Guard, mayor of Cape Girardeau, and a member of 17 boards and foundations during his working life, Randol was a "leader's leader" held in the highest respect by those who knew him.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, of Cape Girardeau, three daughters, a son, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

"He wanted to do things," his wife, Dorothy, said of his many activities. "He loved people and he liked doing things for people."

Born in Whitewater in 1916, he was still a toddler when his father died, and he grew up poor.

Randol believed education was the escape route out of poverty, said his daughter, Jane Jackson. He put himself through Southeast Missouri State University by working at the library. He earned his tuition by serving the marching band as drum major for four years.

He also believed in going to church, starting in a Grace Methodist at the age of 7. He and Dorothy met at church.

Before going to Southeast, he enlisted in the infantry as a private in 1934, and retired in 1971 as a brigadier general and assistant adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard.

He was a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander with the U.S. Army during WWII, fighting at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium.

Randol was elected mayor of Cape Girardeau in 1954 and served for two years. Under his leadership, Cape Girardeau became the first city in Missouri to begin fluoridating its water. The city had a mayor-commissioner form of government when he was elected. He initiated the study that led the city to switch to a mayor-council government.

John Blue, longtime editor of the Southeast Missourian, had known Randol since their days in college at then Southeast Missouri State College.

"He probably was the finest mayor we've had," Blue said.

He said Randol reorganized the city's internal structure, instituted a system of making mass purchases of goods to save money and "picked the city up by the seat of its pants.

"He had the ability to work with people and get things done," Blue said. "I guess that fits in with his Army training."

Howard Tooke, another former mayor, knew him through business dealings and socially.

"I think he was a very dedicated person, both in private life and the business world," Tooke said. "He was just a one-of-a-kind person you don't see very often."

President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Randol as the city's postmaster at the same time he was offered a job at Farmers and Merchants Bank. He took the bank job, he said in an interview when he retired, because he'd loved it since working part-time as a teller at First National Bank during a college summer.

"I enjoy visiting with the people and working out loans so they can go into business and work out problems," he said. "We have supplied funds to put hundreds of people in business over the years."

Randol became president of Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1968. He remained as president when the bank was purchased by Boatmen's Bank, and retired in 1982.

In 1996, he received the Rush Limbaugh Sr. Award, the area's highest business honor.

James Wente, administrator at Southeast Missouri Hospital, knew Randol for 25 years and characterized him as "a leader's leader."

Randol served as president of the hospital board, was on the board for 31 years and was an original incorporator of the hospital foundation. "He was involved in almost every major hospital activity," Wente said. "He was decisive, honest, a man of great personal integrity."

"I have a lot of personal feelings toward Mr. Randol," Wente said. "He was there when I was a younger man. He led by example. I'm really sorry we had to lose him."

He joined Grace Methodist Church in 1931 and was the church's oldest member when he died. Bill Tinsley, who knew Randol through the Graze United Methodist Men's Organization, called him "a devoted friend, church member and family member."

"... Any time anything was going on in the church, he always gave freely of his money and time."

Bill Dockins, like Randol a former president of the Cape Girardeau Kiwanis Club, said Randol helped start its long-running bingo project, which is still contributing money to the club's project.

Randol was one of the club's founding members in 1942 and had a perfect attendance record.

"He was a very strong-minded, civic-minded person," Dockins said. He did a lot for the community. He gave of himself a lot, and not only for the Kiwanis Club."

He helped form the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation and established a scholarship at the university. He received the university's Alumni Merit Award in 1987.

The Cape Girardeau School Board, Cape Girardeau Historical Society, Masonic Lodge #672, the Capaha Scottish Rite Club, the Red Cross Council, the United Way, the Girls Scouts, Boy Scouts and the Crippled Children's Society are just some of the organizations he was involved in, most often as chairman of the board.

"He did the work of three people," said his daughter, Jane Jackson.