Gordon W. Randlett (1868-1942)

RANDLETT

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 11/3/2022 at 22:22:56

Gordon W. Randlett
(November 7, 1868 – June 14, 1942)

In no country on the face of the globe is there a school system which equals that of America. Learning is more universal and know ledge is not confined to the class 1 if citizens who possess wealth. To each child living in America educational privileges are
offered which fit him for the practical and responsible duties of life, and no state in the Union can boast better school work than
Iowa. To this result Professor Randlett, as principal of the schools of Pomeroy, has contributed his share, and his reputation as an instructor is by no means local. He is well fitted for the life work he has chosen, having the ability to impart clearly and readily to others the knowledge he has acquired. His efforts have been effective in promoting the standard of the schools in this place, and both as teacher and as a citizen he commands the good will and confidence of all with whom he has been associated. Mr. Randlett was born in the province of Quebec, on a farm seventy- four miles east of Montreal, his natal day being November 7, 1868. His father. J. H. Randlett, was also a native of Canada, but the mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Hannah Jackman. was a native of New York. While residing in Canada J. H. Randlett devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, and in the fall of 1878 he brought his family to Iowa, settling in Mitchell County, where he purchased a farm, carrying on the place until 1892, when he retired from business life and took up his abode in Orchard, Iowa. He is now about seventy-six years of age and his wife has
reached the age of seventy-two. They are people of the highest respectability and hold membership in the Congregational church.
They became the parents of four children, namely: G. J., who is a farmer and brick and stone mason and resides in Floyd County. Iowa: Mary, who married F. H. Crawford, of Mitchell County, Iowa: Alice, the wife of A. H. Sargent, who passed away February 22, 1900; and Gordon W. our subject. Gordon W. Randlett obtained his early education in Canada and continued his studies in Mitchell county, Iowa, whither he came with his parents when a lad of ten summers. When nineteen years of age he entered the Cedar Valley Seminary at Osage, Iowa, where he spent one year and then matriculated in the State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, completing the work of the sophomore year. In 1881 he accepted a position as principal of the schools at Roland, Story County, Iowa, where he remained for two years and then entered the normal school at Cedar Falls, in which he was graduated with the class of 1895 with the degree of M. D. In the fall of 1895 he accepted the position of principal of the schools of Nora Springs and continued in charge at that place for two years, when in the fall of 1897 he came to Pomeroy as superintendent. Here he has since remained, and now has seven teachers under his direction. His own zeal and enthusiasm for his work inspires both teachers and pupils, and under his direction the school is making satisfactory progress.
On the 22d of June, 1898, was celebrated the marriage of Professor Randlett and Miss Emma Pitts, who was born in Nora Springs, June 17, 1873, and is a daughter of H. E. and Etta Pitts, residents of Nora Springs, where the father is proprietor of a planing mill. Mrs. Randlett has two sisters living. She was one of a family of five children, the other two having died in infancy. The home of our subject and his wife has been blessed with a little daughter, Mary, born December 1, 1899. Professor Randlett holds membership in the Knights of Pythias lodge at Nora Springs. In his political views he has always been a Republican. He belongs to the Baptist church, in which he is serving as trustee and deacon and is also superintendent of the Sunday-school. He and his wife occupy a very prominent position in social circles where true worth and intelligence are received as the passports into good society. He has done much to promote the intellectual culture of the community and through his unassuming manner, genial disposition and unfailing courtesy he has become very popular and made many warm friends. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S.J. Clarke, 1902, p.435]