Jada Olive Randolph
March 2, 1931 - March 24, 2021
Jada Olive Randolph, 90 years young, died at peace on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Snohomish, Washington. Jada is survived by her daughters, Lavender Blu Thorne (Mark) and Virginia Antipolo-Utt (Chris); her grandchildren, Vanessa (Josh), Alexis, Ryan (Leila), Derek (Amanda) and Erica; and, great grandchildren, Trinity, Kaleena, Nicolette, Euraya, Samia, Izraell, Xavier, Zoe, Jaxon, Jake, Samantha, Reagan and Quinn.
Jada was born in 1931 to Jay and Daisy Simons in Ardenvoir, Washington, when Ardenvoir was just a small logging town. She was born prematurely and spent the first few months of her life nestled in a bread pan near the wood stove in her family’s kitchen and, as a result, was known by friends and family as “Tiny.” She often credited her Depression-era pre-term birth and survival to her beloved Aunt Jessie’s loving care and her naturally tenacious spirit. She attended elementary school in a small multi- grade Ardenvoir school, which had a barrel shaped slide to the outdoors for a fire escape. Times were tough growing up in the post-Depression era and her Dad worked for Beebe Orchards and the Holden Mine near Chelan and while he did not like the work at the mine, he could bring home lunch buckets of cheese and meat to feed his family. Her Dad also drove a truck that delivered crops of Red and Yellow delicious apples across the state and later Jada’s daughters often enjoyed picking the best apples out of that truck!
She graduated from Wenatchee High School in 1950, attended Wenatchee Business school and often recommended school and lifelong learning to everyone. As a young woman she moved to Rhode Island with her sister where she met her first husband, Wilfredo Antipolo, who served in the United States Navy. Their first daughter, Lavender, was born in Newport, Rhode Island and their second daughter, Virginia, was born in Charleston, S.C. during a hurricane. They later divorced, Jada remarried and was later widowed. She was an independent woman, a survivor and lover of all animals, especially her Papillon dog named Stormy.
She lived most of her adult life in Ballard (Seattle) and worked for years as the print shop manager at Seattle Goodwill. She loved gardening, attended her local Christian church until she was no longer able to walk uphill to attend services and enjoyed meeting with her iris, cactus and gardening club friends. She never missed an opportunity to visit the Woodland Park Zoo or walk its pathways during the Pumpkin Prowl celebrations. She always enjoyed attending many family birthdays, holidays, Christmas and Easter celebrations and made many quilts and crocheted items for friends and family members. She especially loved watching the eagles and herons at Lopez Island and Labor Day festivities along the Washington coast at Seabrook.
In her 70’s she started to take Spanish classes at the local community center and encouraged people to live their best life and to take care of their health. She met her dearest and deeply adored friend, Ana, at a local bank function over 20 years ago and they spent many an afternoon having tea at Swanson’s in Ballard and picnic lunches around town. Jada was also well known to others in her neighborhood for the many cakes she baked for block parties and often stopped to talk with neighbors as she walked her dog around the neighborhood. Right before Jada attended her 60th High School reunion in Wenatchee she came face to face with a black bear in Ardenvoir and nonchalantly commented on what a shiny coat it had as it ran by!
Up until October 2017 Jada lived independently in Ballard in her own home. Jada was so fortunate to have received exceptional medical care from her physicians at Kaiser Permanente, especially Doctors Sandblom, Burrows and Waarvick. She spent her last few years residing at A Tree of Life (Serene View Manor) in Snohomish and we are grateful for their constant loving care and support of her. Jada retained her mental capacity, optimism, tenacity and clarity up until her last few weeks of life. She would often share that despite the many hardships she faced, she had lived a good life and felt lucky to have had so many friends and such a loving family. Her heartfelt and loving advice and terrific laugh will be dearly missed. Before she passed, on many occasions, she requested that we include in her obituary a simple message to all. She said “Tell them I send my love from heaven.”
DONATIONS
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Hospice or to your favorite charity in your community.