Local veterinarian receives Order of the Long Leaf Pine

Dr. Charles Randall, a retired local veterinarian who practiced in Kinston for more than 60 years, received the state's highest civilian honor Friday, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

The award was created in 1965 and is typically given to people who have a strong record of service to their communities and the state. More than 6,600 people have received the honor, including notable North Carolinians such as basketball star Michael Jordan, the Rev. Billy Graham and television journalist Charles Kuralt.

"I cannot imagine having lived my wonderful life anywhere except Eastern North Carolina," Randall told a group of family, friends and veterinary colleagues who gathered at King's Restaurant Friday for the award ceremony.

Randall was born and raised in Wyandotte County, Kan., and came to North Carolina in 1938 after he received his medical degree from Kansas State University. He spent three years working for the N.C. Department of Agriculture, and met and married his wife, Irma Jordan of Raeford, in that same time.

"It was the love and support of my Tar Heel wife that made it possible for to serve my community, my state and my profession," he said of Irma, who passed away in 2001.

Randall served in World War II with the U.S. Army's Veterinary Corps, and set up his practice in Kinston after he returned in 1945.

The Randalls had three children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Their son Ray is currently a Kinston veterinarian.

Charles Randall received two commendations from the city and county Friday, including a medal presented by Mayor O.A. "Buddy" Ritch Jr. and a lapel pin from Commissioner Earl Harper.

"I've always known you as one of the four or five people in my life who I look up to," Harper said.

During his career, which lasted until he retired late last year, Randall founded Kinston's Riverbank Animal Hospital, treated livestock and house pets, and served with multiple state and national veterinary organizations.

He also mentored a number of young veterinarians. Dr. Stan Griffith, who currently practices in Morehead City and Wilmington, worked with Randall after he graduated from veterinary school.

"A newly graduated vet is like a Labrador retriever puppy, excited, energetic, bright but in some ways very naïve," said a self-deprecating Griffith. "In other words, pretty stupid, and if Charlie's ambition was to make me smart, he failed. I do think that after these past 38 years, I am at least less stupid. That in many ways must be attributed to Charlie's guidance in my early years."

Griffith was one of many former colleagues and friends of Randall who stood up and shared stories of their experiences with him.

Local state Rep. Van Braxton, D-Lenoir, presented the Order of the Long Leaf Pine to Randall. Braxton shared his own anecdotes about the doctor, such as running into him on the local golf course with his Boston terrier in tow.

"We all think so much of Dr. Randall," said Braxton.

David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077, or danderson@freedomenc.com.

Any recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine earns the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary, and can offer a toast to North Carolina in whatever company he or she chooses.

The first verse of the toast, based on a poem by Leonora Martin and Mary Burke Kerr, reads as follows:

"Here's to the land of the long leaf pine/

The summer land where the sun doth shine/

Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great/

Here's to ‘down home,' the Old North State!"