Andrew L. Randell

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker for Andrew L. Randell, out of Grayson County. Now let me give you the full picture.

Denison, Texas, gave the world a lot of things, and one of them was Andrew L. Randell, born August 15, 1880. This was a man who left his hometown, went all the way to Princeton University and then the University of Texas, gathered up a fine education, and came back to Texas to put it to work.

He opened a law practice in Sherman, got himself planted in civic life, in church affairs, and built what looked from the outside like a good, steady, respectable life. And it was. He and his wife Vera, born a Harrison, raised two daughters together.

But here is where the story gets interesting. Because as solid as his law career was, as rooted as he was in Sherman's civic and church circles, it was somewhere else entirely that Andrew Randell made his mark. It was in Freemasonry.

Now, when a man reaches the office of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, that is not a small thing. That is the top of a very tall ladder in one of the oldest fraternal organizations in this country, and Randell climbed it. But he did not stop there.

He went on to serve as executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association of the United States, and in that role he led national disaster relief efforts. Think about what that means, the reach of it, the weight of it. Not just Texas.

The whole country. He also served as a director of the Dallas Masonic Homes, and he was an advocate, a persistent and vocal one, for Masonic education programs, publication, and ideals. Andrew L.

Randell died March 14, 1931. He was a Denison boy who went out into the world, learned what it had to teach, and then spent his life building something larger than himself. That is a story worth pullin' over for.

What the marker says

(Aug. 15, 1880 - Mar. 14, 1931) A native of Denison, Andrew Randell graduated from Princeton University and the University of Texas. He opened a law practice in Sherman nad was active in civic and church affairs. He and his wife Vera (Harrison) had two daughters. It was in Freemasonry that he marked his greatest achievements, serving as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas; as executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association of the U.S., leading national disaster relief efforts; as a director of the Dallas Masonic Homes; and as an advocate for Masonic education programs, publication and ideals. Recorded - 2005