Joseph A. Rand, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, passed away on January 14, 2021 at the age of ninety two years. He was a retired minister of the United Methodist Church. Mr. Rand was born on August 4, 1928, in North Andover, Massachusetts, the son of George C. Rand and Hilda (Barnes) Rand and was the second of three children. He was raised in North Andover and attended Johnson High School, graduating in 1946. He enlisted in the then Army - Air Force directly after high school, and served as a radio operator and mechanic while stationed in British Guiana. He was honorably discharged at the rank of Sargent in 1949. While home on leave during his service he met his future wife, Lillian Jackman. They were married in 1950 and celebrated their seventieth wedding anniversary in 2020.
After his discharge from the service and his marriage, he attended Manter Hall Preparatory School and Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, studying engineering. In 1952 Mr. Rand became employed by Sylvania Electric Company, and rose from an entry level employee to be plant manager of their Outdoor Lighting Division and then sales manager for their Transformer Division. He retired from Sylvania in 1972. It was during his time at Sylvania, in 1963, that his life was forever changed. After a sales trip to the west coast, on an overnight flight home to Boston, he had a chance meeting with the evangelist, Eleanor Searle Whitney, and he was born again, and dedicated himself to his lord and savior from that moment forward.
After leaving Sylvania he returned to college and received a Bachelor’s degree from Boston University in 1977. In 1972 he was ordained as a minister and received his license to preach from the United Methodist Church in New England. He became a full-time pastor in the mid-1970’s, and thereafter served churches in Byfield, Massachusetts, Londonderry, New Hampshire and Bradford, Massachusetts. He was an active and proud Free Mason , a Rotarian and an unabashed patriotic American. While serving his churches he was actively involved in the national United Methodist Church, travelling across the country to attend conferences and meetings and participating in the discussion of doctrinal issues within the church. He also was honored to deliver a prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast, and he delivered the invocation at the opening session of the Massachusetts legislature in Boston, Massachusetts. After a trip to the Holy Land, which was one of the high points of their lives, he and his wife retired in 1991, only to be called back to service as a missionary minister on the island of Barbados. There, he served a circuit of four churches of the British Methodist Church for one year. Returning from Barbados and retiring to Florida, he was asked to lead a fledging United Methodist Church in Palm City, Florida. He accepted the challenge, and he and his wife served the church for three years, leaving it thriving on their exit . And after retiring once again, he was asked to help his new church, Trinity United Methodist Church in Jensen Beach, when it suddenly suffered the loss of their pastor. He stepped in and led the church until a new pastor was appointed.
All the while he enjoyed his family and friends, and he and his wife travelled throughout the country to visit them. He and his wife raised their four children Groveland, Massachusetts. In their retirement years they split time between their home in Seabrook Beach, New Hampshire and their home in Jensen Beach, Florida. Mr. Rand boated on the Merrimack River and the Atlantic Ocean in his prized cabin cruiser. In his mid- 50’s he earned his private pilot’s
license and flew small planes throughout New England. When he finally settled in Jensen Beach, Florida, he flew sorties with the Civil Air Patrol before retiring in 2007 with the rank of Chaplain, Major. He also served as an occasional chaplain for Holland America Cruise Lines, including a cruise from Vancouver, Canada southward to and through the Panama Canal. He was an avid beach-goer, golfer,reader, gardener, amateur carpenter and for the past fifteen years, a passionate genealogist. And to his delight, he became a published author when the parishioners of his church arranged for his book, Recycled !, to be published in 2018.
Rev. Rand is survived by his wife of seventy years, Lillian R. (Jackman) Rand, and his children: daughter Helen E. (Rand) McGrath and her husband, Thomas McGrath, of Yarmouthport, Ma., son George A. Rand, and his wife, Mary Ann Rand, of Haverhill, Ma. and daughter Margaret L. (Rand) Esposito, of Seabrook, N.H. He is also survived by his brother, David Rand, of North Andover, Ma. He was predeceased by his son, David J. Rand, and by his sister, Rita Rand Conroy, son-in-law, Richard Esposito and all of his in-laws. He is also survived by 6 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
The Rand family would like to thank the staff at Wickshire Port St. Lucie Assisted Living facility (formerly Atria) for their dedicated care since 2018, and to Treasure Coast Hospice, Stuart, FL. for their care for the past year. A funeral service for Rev. Rand will be held at 11:00 AM on January 31, 2021 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Jensen Beach, Florida. His interment will follow later in the year at Riverview Cemetery in Groveland, Massachusetts.
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