“’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” ~Jeremiah 29:11-13
Believing with all her heart that God’s plan for her life was for a future and a hope, Dawn Colleen Randall claimed these verses as her own. Born on October 3, 1946, to Donald and Vera Woods, Dawn was raised in Randle, Washington. She graduated in 1964 from White Pass High School. In 1972 she graduated from Washington State University with a degree in bacteriology and public health. She went on to being a medical technologist at Oregon State Health & Science University.
Thomas Randall stepped into her life at Washington State University in 1969, when she roomed with his cousin. They were married on August 19, 1972. After 48 years of love and devotion to each other, Dawn passed away in the arms of her husband and was welcomed into the arms of her Heavenly Father on May 9, 2021. Over her 74 years of life, she passed a legacy of prayer and faith to not only her family, but to all who knew her.
Dawn’s legacy includes her beloved best friend and husband, Tom; her children: Matthew Randall and wife, Laura Jane; Beth Armstrong and husband, Travis; Joshua Randall and wife, Karen; Marjie Randall; and her “prayed-for” ten grandchildren, Katiree, LilliAnne, Tate, Ally, Zane, Jacob, Kezia, Wesley, Talitha, and Emberlee as well as several beloved nieces and nephews.
Dawn and Tom raised their children in Ferndale, Washington. Dawn served alongside Tom as he pastored at several churches. Together they counseled and ministered to families in Bellingham for 29 years, including parenting and family work with Growing Families International. They moved to Ridgefield, Washington, where Tom and Dawn started A Touch of Hope Ministries, caring and ministering to caregivers. Later, they would move to Gilbert, Arizona, where they continued pastoring and ministering to families and caregivers at various churches through A Touch of Hope Ministries.
Fingerprints of Dawn’s influence are everywhere. She was involved in 4-H, homeschooled each child for two years, met with prayer groups and other prayer warriors, taught family classes with her husband, and puttered with her flowers. Being disabled for 31 years left challenges, but she rose above them. Anyone who knew her was touched by her love for all who entered her home. If anyone needed prayer, she prayed. She believed in the power of prayer. She would say, “I may not be able to do much, but I can pray.” And pray she did.
Dawn was thrilled to not only have one child, but four. As their children grew and Dawn’s health and pain slowed her down, Dawn told Tom that she was praying to hold one grandbaby before the Lord took her home. Tom said they just kept adding to that prayer– until she held all ten of her grandbabies. She would say her greatest legacy was to see her children walking in faith. She prayed over each of them, and then again over every grandchild she held.
She prayed until God called her home, when Jesus reached down and took her hand, leaving her wheelchair behind. As a friend said to Tom, after Tom shared the news of Dawn’s stepping into glory, “When I think of Dawn in your arms, I love the picture of Jesus leaning down and touching you as you held Dawn. He said, ‘Son, I’ll take it from here.’ And He did.” God’s plans for a “future and a hope” for Dawn meant she was welcomed by her Jesus in her heavenly home where she is free from pain, and face-to-face with her beloved Savior.
A celebration of life and graveside services will be held on May 19, 2021 at 2:00 pm at Mountain View Funeral Home and Cemetery, in Mesa, Arizona.
While Dawn loved working with her many pots of flowers, she requested that any gifts in her honor be made to A Touch of Hope Ministries at www.atouchofhopeministries.com.
The Zoom Link for the service below will be open at 1:45 PM (Arizona Time) on May 19, 2021
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85109127600?pwd=S1BtcjJnWXVIN2hUV1FaaXJJVDU1Zz09
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Absolutely beautiful and so right on of our sweet Dawn. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
I’m so sorry for your loss . She is now out of pain snd resting peacefully in heaven with God . She was an amazingly string woman and a great inspiration and friend to me . I am great full to have known her .
To the Randall’s, Dawn’s legacy to you is her steadfast love and faith in the Lord Jesus,and her steadfast love and faith in her family. I pray that brings you peace and joy.
Our sister in law, Dawn Randall, is always a perfectly wonderful, virtuous sister. She always has a smile and speaks from a gentle manner. At age 21, I enjoyed staying a summer at the Randall cabin on Mt. Hood in Oregon, the same year Tom and Dawn lived at Brightwood, OR. I worked at Zig Zag Inn, and had cut my finger tip badly, and was so relieved to have Tom and Dawn living nearby at their home on the Sandy River. That afternoon, I drove to visit Dawn at Brightwood home for first aid. I could see that she was happy there with Tom in their early married lives; and she always kept a perfectly happy home at all their residences. Before that, I enjoyed visiting Tom and Dawn happily living in SE Portland while Tom attended Mt. Tabor Seminary, and Dawn worked as a Lab Tech. She said then that she really loved her Lab Tech job in Portland. She was perfectly exemplary and helpful with Godly Wisdom for me when we visited alone. I liked when Dad and Mom Randall would drive us to visit to see them in Ferndale, WA. She and Tom were always exemplary raising kids God’s way, which at the time was so helpful for young families. It was always good to listen to hear Dawn speak well to their 4 darling children, when we, Tom’s siblings, visited with our parents, and when they in their turn visited our parents in Seattle.
What a lovely piece. Prayers to your whole family and all friends whose lives your dear mom touched.
I’ve known Dawn for over 30 years. Every time I think of her, I think of her with a sweet smile on her face. She thought of others before herself even with the health challenges she had.
She was an amazing lady.
I look forward to seeing her again someday.
Dear Tom and family,
Dawn was the most fierce prayer warrior I knew. She was also the most righteous person I knew. The four years I was blessed to be her prayer partner had the deepest impact on my understanding of what it meant to be a child of God, a woman of a faith, a servant wife, a godly mother, and a prayer warrior. Our time together over egg salad sandwiches and tea were such precious moments. She had the gift of presence! My most cherished moments are when she’d place her hand on mine. I am praying for you as you each in your own way go through your grief. Be kind to one another and remember that you all will grieve differently. I will be on Zoom, but with you in Spirit. I look forward to the day I can hug you all.
In Christ,
Lisa Detchman
We send our love to all of your family and will remember how kind Dawn was to us and our children every time that we saw her. We are also grateful to the guidance and preparation for parenthood that she and Tom gave us.
We were blessed to work in family ministries with Tom and Dawn. Visiting Dawn in the hospital after one of her surgeries, she described with a glowing face how close and precious the Lord had been in her suffering. And although she didn’t want to do it again, she wouldn’t trade that for anything. Well, she did have to go through it again, and got closer and closer to Jesus, blessing all of us in the process. Dawn knew how to suffer well. What an inspiration she has been! Thank you, Tom, for your TLC all these years.
Dear Tom and family,
I was talking with Carole Burton this afternoon about memories of the the Warringtons and Randalls over the years when she said that Dawn’s memorial service was happening at that time. I was stunned to learn of Dawn’s home going to heaven. Glad for her, sad for all of you. I have such fond memories of her from seminary days in Portland and ministries in Bellingham at Meridian Bible Church, New Life Fellowship, EV Free and Center Point. Tom, you and Dawn have been such an encouragement to Linda and me through the joys and jolts of ministry. You’re still on my prayer list from the ’70s and will continue to intercede for you and your family in the years ahead. We send love and hugs. ‘The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.’ Deut 33:27