The Life of Pooh Randall
On June 12th, 2020, Pooh Randall died at home in Wilkinsburg, PA. She was born on May 7th, 1955 in Washington, DC, the city where she grew up and resided most of her life. Pooh walked a unique path that she crafted herself, building a life that she could live authentically. After graduating from Allegheny College in 1977 she moved to Cleveland where she worked in the public school system. Caring for and encouraging the growth of children would remain important to Pooh. She created an in-home childcare program in Portland, ME, continued the work when she moved back to DC to care for an ailing mother, and worked at the Murch Extended Day program—coming full circle by nurturing children at the elementary school she had attended. In 1988 she birthed a daughter, Eowyn Na Randall, and chose to homeschool her so that learning could be driven by curiosity. For more than a decade she spent summers at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, joining hundreds of other women in creating a home in the ferns. Gregarious and warm, she made friends with everyone she met: librarians to grocery store clerks, elders to infants. She was always spinning a web of community and creating new ways to be. She was, and is, and will continue to be, loved by many. She will rest at Penn Forest Cemetery, returning naturally to the earth she honored with her life. In lieu of flowers the family asks any memorial contributions to me made to the National Resource Defense Council (https://www.nrdc.org/) or Earthjustice (https://earthjustice.org/)
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2021.07.20
Connections
At a loss for words. Pooh and I were college roommates our freshman and junior years. We did not stay in touch very long post-graduation, but we did re-connect when she reached out to see if I was still living in Scottdale. After she relocated to Pittsburgh to be closer to Eowyn, I was able to visit her in December of 2019 at her home. We stayed in touch by text message, and the last message I received from her was on April 23, 2020. We were so very different (she liked heavy metal music in college, I preferred classical; I saved the green m&m's in the bag for last, she ate them first; she was an artist, I was a science nerd) but connected in so many ways (both studied to become teachers and loved nature; both had our first child in 1988). All throughout the years, I have felt her presence in my life many times, and cannot believe that she is gone. Hers truly was a peaceful soul and my most fervent hope is that it is finally at rest in a better world than this one. Bike on, my friend!