Celebrating the Life of Randall Lee Wright
Born November 28, 1950 - Died June 4, 2020
Randall (Randy) L. Wright, age 69, of Chelsea, MI, passed away at home surrounded by his loved ones on June 4, 2020. On October 23, 1995, in Ames, IA, Randall married Lucia Meta Ruedenberg, and she survives.
Randy was born in Wichita Falls, TX, and spent most of his childhood in New Mexico. During his teen years he lived in Libya, North Africa where his father worked for Halliburton as an engineer on the oil fields. During the Vietnam War years, Randy fled to Canada and settled in Vancouver. During this time, as a young man in his 20s, he lost his father to a heart attack. He was briefly married to Jodi and they had a son, Jayson. When that marriage failed, Randy turned to music, which he had picked up as a teenager. He was a self-taught guitarist who performed in rock bands, produced recordings and concerts up and down the west coast in the 1970s. Later in his life, he played in contra bands and produced family dances in Pennsylvania and New York.
Randy studied journalism at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and worked as a video and documentary producer for Kekuli, a non-profit that provided home care in Vancouver. In the 1980s, Randy taught himself computer programming, which became his primary form of making a living. His specialties were open source platforms, UNIX and Linux operating systems, Perl, Python and JavaScript languages, and the WordPress platform.
In 1995, Randy met Lucia, and they lived in Israel for a few years where he networked the kibbutzim of the Negev Desert to the Internet. They settled in New York City, where he worked on the IT staff of New York University for 10 years as a software developer and programmer. During this time, Randy also collaborated with Ten Penny Players' to develop Streams Online, a literacy tool for under-served high school students in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, https://tenpennyplayers.org/SOL/SOLTechOverview.html.
His twin daughters, Moriah and Tsameret, were born in 2005. In 2012, Randy took a position with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, working with journalists to publish their news stories online. He became interested in data visualization and won an award in 2016 from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work on "American Coyotes," a story about smugglers across the US/Mexico border. His mapping traced their routes with data and photographs. His last job as a programmer was with Barracuda Networks in Ann Arbor in 2017. Randy posted his programming projects and ideas on http://lrw.net.
During the last 15 years of his life, and after the birth of his daughters, Randy became increasingly interested in farming, soil health, human health, and the environment. When he moved to Chelsea and purchased the land that was home to the Community Farm of Ann Arbor, he became an active, involved member of the farm, leading projects on no-till and bio-dynamic agriculture, collaborating with like-minded people whom he admired greatly.
Randy described himself as a “hacker.” He loved building things, tinkering with machines, measuring and calculating, and drawing up plans. He enjoyed learning and research, exploring new horizons with ingenuity and enthusiasm, and not too much concern for perfection. When he became passionate about something, he was an inspiring catalyst to make things happen. He was a good listener, and he loved dialoguing, writing, and he kept a daily journal. Randy had an excellent memory for misplaced objects, travel routes, and rarely forgot a person's name even from long ago in his childhood. Randy was a team player, and placed great value on being of service. He was intelligent, good-hearted, generous, both courageous and reckless, unprepossessing and grandiose. He wore his heart on his sleeve, was candid, disarming, and charming. Sometimes rude and crude. He struggled with depression, cravings, and anxiety about meeting life’s challenges.
Randy loved taking his family on long drives and he loved the Northwest. He was very proud of his daughters and had great admiration for the education they received at the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, and before that at the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, where he has made strong connections and enduring friendships. He was amazed and grateful that he lived as long as he did and he always regretted that he did not get to know his son, and that his father never met his family.
Randy was born into a Christian family, adopted the Jewish people when he married Lucia, and chose the Hebrew name Ze’ev for himself. Never one for organized religion, he did believe in a Higher Power and his spirituality was rooted in nature and the 12-Step Program. His spirit animals were the eagle, the coyote, and the turtle. He was color blind and his favorite color was blue because it stood out the most vibrantly for him.
Randy died very suddenly and unexpectedly, early in the morning, of a seizure or heart attack. He was preparing to go out and work with his fellow farm members, to prepare the fields for cover cropping, build fences, make compost piles, collaborate, dream, and plan for the future. He was happy and engaged and connected. He went out on a high note and was blessed to be surrounded by loving, capable, spiritual, and wise people who knew just what to do to help him and his family. Randy was in a good place, with good people, doing good work, building a good life. He gave us his best. We love him and had expected to spend many more years together. His sparkle is gone from our lives and we miss him.
In addition to Lucia, Randall is survived by his daughters Moriah Rosalia Ruedenberg Wright and Tsameret Alice Ruedenberg Wright; his first wife, Jodi, and their son, Jayson Wright, as well as Jayson’s children, Liv, Eve, and Wayland; his brother, Kevin Reagan Wright, and nieces, Cindy Wright with daughter Sadie, Sarah Estes with daughter Abigail, and Rachel Lyons. Randy was preceded in death by his elder brother, Keith R. Wright, Jr., his mother, Johnnie Faye Hatcher, and father, Keith Roy Wright.
In accordance with his wishes, Randy has been cremated, and a private service was held. Expressions of sympathy may be made in his memory as a donation to the Community Farm of Ann Arbor. Arrangements by Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home, Chelsea.
