Randy Marchand
Profile
Then
Living in
Issaquah, WA
Marital status
Never married
Situation
Renting downtown Issaquah from my youngest brother, living with my 3 1/2 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback, Jake
Kids
None - yet 3 wonderful friends, dogs the late Ramsey and Rocky, and now Jake, plus nieces and nephews
Vocation
Disabliity retirement from Episcopal priesthood, prior high-tech career
Politics
Determinedly middle of the road; yet since everything left of neo-con has been labeled "liberal" for so many years, one of my family members calls me a radical left-wing liberal!
After high school I...
I attended community college for 1 year of pre-med in 1977-78, then graduated from college in 1982, having completed 3/4 of the pre-med requirements. Medicine had already become too commercial and not patient-centered enough for me while in college (I wanted to be the old-style general practitioner), so I wound up moving to California for high-tech work, first in a small not-for-profit then at Hewlett-Packard from 1984 until 2000. In that year I moved to New York City (Manhattan) to attend Episcopal seminary, returned to Seattle from health issues towards the end of 2001, then returned to New York City in 2005 to complete seminary. I served parishes in Manhattan (West Village and Upper West Side) and on Staten Island. Health issues overcame me after 45 years of major "stuff" so I was forced to quit working in November of 2015, going on disability, and returned to where I live now in Issaquah in April of 2016.
College
Bellevue Community College 1977-78
Whitman College, Walla Walla AB Foreign Languages and Literature: German 1982
General Seminary of the Episcopal Church, New York MDiv 2008
Major accomplishments/events since high school
Kidney/pancreas transplant at the U in 1997, a few months after I attended our 20th reunion (18 1/2 years of rejection-free success - YES!).
Developed great skills in recreational volleyball and tennis beginning in college, later a passion for playing golf (although, like most people say, I sucked at it!)
Discovered how much I love to watch baseball and football!
Recognized being gay in the mid-80s, sharing a home with a partner for a few years in the late 90s before the upheavals of career change and moving from place to place.
Served on boards of organizations serving people with HIV/AIDS, promoting the life and work of an 19th-century pioneering female photographer from Staten Island, and the Council of Churches of Staten Island (since I know accounting they always want me to be Treasurer!).
Nurtured and enhanced my life-long, natural inclination to love and care about all people, regardless.
Hobbies/personal interests
Reluctant watcher of tennis and golf, no longer playing.
Watching baseball and football in person or on TV.
Horses (former owner), dogs and all animals.
Strong family relationships.
Politics/news junkie.
Cooking and entertaining.
Promoting the well-being of and equality for all, despite trends to the contrary in our country.
Unfulfilled dream
Oh boy...
1) serving at least 20 years as an active and retired clergyman;
2) playing tennis and golf until old age;
3) a dedicated, healthy and loving partner for life;
4) spending serious time living amongst elephants and other wildlife in Africa.
I suppose there are many other things, but my job now is to focus on a life of usefulness to others while taking care of myself, not on unfulfilled regrets. Besides, I'm not giving up on all of this yet!
Other comments
I know we all are not getting any younger, but I think of myself as a lot younger than I am. So I was pretty shocked and disappointed when I reviewed the memorial list for our classmates. It was so long, and contained the names of several people I went to grade school (Sunny Hills) and junior high (Issaquah) with. I feel badly not to know what happened to them throughout their lives. Ken Westerlund was a very good friend before high school and did not make it from his diabetes, dying shortly before our 20th reunion, which he worked to organize. I was diagnosed with diabetes in 7th grade, whereas he was a baby when he was diagnosed.
