Obituary of Randall Owen Pauley
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Randall Owen Pauley RN, CRNA, age 69, born January 21, 1952 in Charleston, West Virginia to Walter and Cynthia Pauley, died on Friday March 12, 2021 in Montgomery, Texas.
He is survived by his wife, Sharon Pauley; children, Ashley Pauley and her partner, Ryan Klepetko, Cynthia “Katie” Pauley, Randall Pauley, Jr. and his wife, Jennifer; grandchildren, Olivia Klepetko and Aiden Hodges; sisters, Melissa Nasr and her husband, Yasser, Sarah Kelly and her husband, Ronnie, Martha Troutman and her husband, Gary; beloved uncle, Larry Totten, and his wife, Donna. Randall was preceded in death by his father, mother, and brother Gregory.
Randall was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and at the age of 7 moved with his family to West University Place in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar High School in 1970, where his future wife Sharon Linehan also attended and graduated in the same year, although they did not meet each other until 5 years later.
After high school, in 1971, Randall went to Hermann Hospital School of Nursing, graduating as an RN in 1973. He worked in the Hermann Hospital ICU and Spartanburg Regional Hospital until he decided to go into anesthesia. In 1975, Randall met his wife Sharon. They dated for 11 days before Randall told her he was going to marry her. In 1976, Randall and Sharon were married and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where Randall attended Charlotte Memorial Hospital School of Nurse Anesthesia. He graduated in 1978 as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Shortly thereafter, Randall and Sharon moved back to Houston, Texas, and he started his anesthesia career at Methodist Hospital, working there for nearly 20 years. Randall and Sharon started their family in December 1982, when their daughter Ashley was born. Katie followed in 1984, and Randall, Jr. in 1988.
In the mid 1990’s, Randall started working at the Texas Orthopedic Hospital. He especially enjoyed his time at TOH, working with the doctors of the Fondren Orthopedic Group. In 2011, Randall started working at Spine Care Consultants, until retiring in 2017.
Randall loved taking care of people, whether that was his family or his patients. He took a lot of pride in his bedside manner and received abundant praise from his patients. Randall was especially proud of his trademark mustache that he would grow out to look like his mentor, Dr. James “Red” Duke, Jr.
Randall was very involved in his children’s activities as they grew up. He was a volunteer swim team parent, helping out at every swim meet. He joined the YMCA father and daughter group Indian Princesses, with his daughters, and was a chaperone to numerous campouts and activities.
Randall was an avid lover of music and music trivia, and delighted in sharing his musical knowledge with others. He wrote many songs from the time he was young, and was a gifted guitarist. He could give the history of nearly any band, and often shared passages from the Rock and Roll Dictionary with friends and family. He enjoyed rock concerts and live music, attending tons of concerts throughout his life, and often blamed his bad hearing on all the loud music of his youth!
Two of Randall’s favorite hobbies were duck hunting and fishing. He participated in Ducks Unlimited for many years, where he served as a chair of multiple Greenwing youth events, and was a committee member at several national conventions. Randall loved every type of fishing, from casting off the dock of his lake house to chartered trips. In 1995, he won a fishing competition in Key West, Florida, by chance, with a 25 lb. prize barracuda, of which he was very proud. Randall was a car enthusiast, whether that was reading about the newest cars, traveling to watch races, or teaching his kids how to race go-karts.
Randall was a problem-solver and in his spare time often worked on making more efficient medical devices and equipment. He was granted a patent for one such invention in 1999, a Respiratory Monitoring Apparatus to be used during anesthesia.
Randall was witty and loved to tell jokes, and he was making jokes right up until the very end. He was loved dearly by his family and will be greatly missed.
A funeral service will be held at 4:00 p.m., with a viewing and visitation at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, March 20, 2021 at Joseph J. Earthman Generations, 234 Westcott Street in Houston, Texas.