Matilda Randall
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Matilda Randall

Matilda Randall

Matilda Randall

On the outskirts of Riverside, there lived, worked, and prayed a busy Christian grandmother, Mrs. Matilda Randall. Although her living room shelves were filled with many fine books for reading and study and oils for painting still-life, she was drawn to the outdoors. She milked the goats, chopped the wood, hammered her fences, and tended the irrigation of her extensive fruit orchard, until her face grew tan and her hands strong.

Her two children were grown and married, and now a bright-eyed grandson played in her yard on the hilltop. Mrs. Randall began to consider his education, and was determined to do something about it. Times were different than a few years back; textbooks for the public schools were omitting moral and spiritual values: school teachers in general could be very lax in their standards. The words of Scripture, “Train up a child in the way he should go,” repeated themselves in her mind. With her teaching certificate from the state of Pennsylvania and past teaching skills well in hand and heart, Mrs. Randall started a small kindergarten out of her hilltop home. There she taught the school’s first pupil, her five year old grandson. 

In the following summer, Mrs. Randall attended a conference for Sunday School teacher training. There in the dining hall she met two women, both teachers, who told her of their desire to start a private Christian elementary school. As by a miracle, she had met helping hands. God was answering prayer quickly. In a piece written in 1975, Mrs. Randall recalled the history of the school saying, “the beginnings were small in number but large in faith.” Along with many other friends partnering in prayer and counsel, she succeeded in getting the assistance of Mrs. Alfred S. Donat, a co-worker in Sunday School. Mrs. Donat became the first principal of the school God allowed them to start. 

By September of that year, 1948, the doors of ‘Riverside Christian Day School’ as the large sign out front read, were opened for kindergarten through third grade, in a few rented rooms of a home on Tenth Street. The seven-pupil enrollment by June increased to 28, and in 1964 grew to 428 (and more) total students. When a board of directors was established in 1950, Mrs. Randall served as secretary in addition to teaching in all grade levels of the school from third through eighth in her time there.

The living room of Mrs. Randall’s hilltop home, with its shelves of good books, looked like a library. With that in mind came the name for the new RCDS library, “Randall Hall,” remodeled in the 1990s. In her loving memory and honor, the metal plaque and picture were placed next to Mrs. Donat’s in the library.

Mrs. Randall’s impact on the students and staff at Woodcrest Christian is immeasurable. Her faith resonated with people, and she was an active example of living out the Gospel. Romans 12:10-12 describes the life and works of Mrs. Randall: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love: in honor preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit: serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation: continuing instant in prayer.”

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Elementary School

Woodcrest Christian Day School
3612 Arlington Ave
Riverside, CA 92506

(951) 686-1818

Office Hours:
M-F: 7:45am - 3:45pm

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Woodcrest Christian School
18401 Van Buren Blvd
Riverside, CA 92508

(951) 780-2010

Office Hours:
M-F: 8:00am - 3:30pm

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