Jean Randall, the longtime president of the Rialto Historical Society and the oldest living former Rialto Unified School District teacher, died Feb. 3. She was 102.
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, Randall’s birthday, the Rialto City Council began the process of naming the Historical Society building on Riverside Avenue in her honor.
“Ms. Randall was a very great statesman of our community and a hard-working person,” Councilman Ed Scott, who first met Randall three decades ago, said Tuesday. “Very opinionated. She told you her opinion, but still loved you no matter what.
“She was a great lady.”
The Randall family is etched in Rialto history.
In 1910, a year before the city’s incorporation, Randall’s mother, Wilma Morgan, helped found the Rialto Women’s Club. Randall’s father, Albert Harvey Morgan, was a citrus grower in town at the time and later served on the first City Council.
Morgan Elementary School and Morgan Street bear his surname.
Randall attended Rialto schools in the early 1900s and graduated from San Bernardino High in 1937.
At 102, she was the school’s oldest living alumna, according to Rialto Unified grounds supervisor Brian Montez, who penned the school district’s history book.
Randall and her high school sweetheart-turned-husband, Boris, raised three daughters locally before Randall began teaching in Rialto at the age of 40. She taught at Henry Elementary first, then Boyd.
Randall was active in Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, Ticktocker’s National Charity League, the Junior League and the PTA, city staffers wrote in a report for the City Council. She also was a Sunday school teacher and a superintendent and trustee chairwoman of the Congregational Church of Rialto.
In retirement, Randall became a reading consultant and integral part of the Rialto Historical Society, where she served as president the past 12 years.
Montez, a longtime friend, drew inspiration from Randall while compiling the history of Rialto schools.
“Jean was always passionate about the preservation of the past,” he added. “Jean was always fun to be around and spend time with listening to her stories of Rialto past. She knew where everyone lived and could point them out when driving around Rialto.
“Jean had a true passion for life and a simpler time in Rialto when the city was filled with only orange groves,” he continued. “I will dearly miss Jean’s conversations and her smile.
“She was a cherished part of Rialto’s history.”
In the coming weeks, the Recreation and Parks Commission will review city leaders’ request to rename the Riverside Avenue facility the “Jean Randall Museum” and send the City Council its recommendation.
The proposal could be finalized March 8.
New signage would cost about $5,000.
“We’ll never forget her,” Mayor Deborah Robertson said in closing Tuesday.
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