Spotlight Series

This month, our spotlight is on Randy Dow, Treatment Foster Care Case Coordinator.

 Randy was born and grew up on a dairy farm in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.  He knew by age sixteen that he hated cows and vowed that he would never live on a farm again.  He also swore that he'd never live in New York City, after stopping by Times Square on his way to college in Utah via Greyhound bus.  At the time, the city was a mess and he even saw a live rat on the street.  Ironically, he made his way back to NYC four years later as one of twenty three Brigham Young University interns, and he was one of only two of them who decided to stay and live there.  He completed his internship at Columbia University and was hired as a research supervisor by BBDO Advertising, the largest ad agency at the time.  Randy worked on the Pepsi, General Electric, and Apple accounts, as well as the Wisk account (think "ring around the collar").  During his stint in advertising, he met and talked with celebrities, including Robert Redford, Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, and Marie Osmond.  He even shared a limousine with O.J. Simpson on Simpson's way to deliver a speech about integrity to a troop of boyscouts!  After twelve years of living in NYC and loving it, Randy returned to Maine because he and his wife didn't want to raise a family in the city.   When they returned to Maine, Randy gave up adverstising and ran a group home for teens in Caribou.  Once his growing family needed a larger place to live, they returned to the farmhouse where Randy was raised, though they did not acquire cows.  Randy has worked at Community Care for almost twelve years, and he considers it his longest and and "most enjoyable" employment.  Asked what he likes best about working for Community Care, Randy says, "That's an easy one, the people."  He says he finds great coworkers no matter which office he works from, and he really enjoys the kids, especially the teenagers.  Randy likes painting and recently has been acting in theatre productions, starring as Marley last year in A Christmas Carol.  He is waiting now to audition for an Agatha Christie play that will go up next year.  In his time away from work, Randy reports that he likes spending time with his five children, noting,  "I'm fortunate that they all like each other and are just as happy spending time with each other as they are with their friends.  We camp, play lots of funky games, roller skate, attend their mom's plays, and go mini golfing.  And, of course, as a family of our size, we're big supporters of the dollar theatre."    Randy's favorite quote is one from Abraham Lincoln:  "Common looking people are the best in the world; that is why the Lord made so many of them."