Family came first for Crest Hill man
By Denise Baran-Unland For The Herald-News May 13, 2012 4:30PM
John "Bo" Randich
Updated: June 15, 2012 8:05AM
John “Bo” Randich of Crest Hill was a quiet, uncomplicated man who consistently demonstrated the importance of family, friends and faith, said Bo’s son, John Randich of Joliet, principal at Joliet Central High School.
“He was from a generation that did not say, ‘I love you,’ but he showed his love by providing for us,” John said. “Love for him wasn’t a feeling; it was an action and he modeled it. He was always present for us and that was difficult to do when a man did shift work.”
For instance, Bo, who had grown up in an immigrant family as one of 10 children, built a house for his family of four on a lot other relatives had once used to graze their cows. Bo helped his brothers build their houses, too, on the same street.
“We grew up with an extended family,” John said. “It was almost like having four sets of parents instead of one.”
In addition, for the 30 years Bo worked swing shift at Olin (Blockson) Chemical in Joliet, he rarely missed a day of work or declined an offer of overtime. Yet, during that time, Bo also coached Little League teams at St. Joseph Park in Joliet, attended all family events and monitored his son’s report cards. This last, John felt, should not be minimized.
“As a high school principal, I know that the family is where education starts and that the students who succeed in school are the ones whose parents are in partnership with the school,” Randich said. “They lay the groundwork for their children’s success.”
In later years, Bo also gave similar attention to his granddaughters. He baked cookies and created art projects with them, taught them their colors and let them mess up and restyle his hair.
This is why Bo also served as an usher at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Crest Hill (where he had been a member for all of his 83 years, up until his April 13 death), regularly visited his parents and frequently participated in community functions.
So by the time John and his brother Steve Randich of Joliet, president of First Community Bank, had become adults, they had absorbed their father’s deeply rooted family values.
John and Steve spent Sunday afternoons at their parents’ house and performed such chores for them as cutting the grass.
“That was when my father was at his best, when he was around friends and family,” John said. “He was always friendly, smiling and happy.”
Contact Denise M. Baran-Unland
at 815-467-5249 or artemis279@aol.com.
