Nothing prepared our hearts to say goodbye to our feisty, but big-hearted little Italian American on December 5, 2023. Randy died peacefully and has joined the loving arms of his parents, Ralph, and Betty Santora in heaven, along with other family members, and friends. He remained brave and determined to the end; never complaining about what life had bestowed upon him.

Randy was born on November 28, 1948, in Spokane, WA, and was raised on Spokane's lower south hill along with his sister Sandi and many of his Italian cousins. He attended Sheridan grade school, Libby Jr. High, and was in the second graduating class from Ferris High School in 1967. Early on Randy began his love of sports, baseball at the time, and was known to ride his bike and sneak into the Indians games, where afterwards his father would pick him up in his truck to bring him and his bike home after dark. His love of baseball earned him a Letterman's Award at Libby Jr. High from his tough but favorite coach, Bill Leinweber. In high school, Randy ran track and participated in wrestling. He continued his education, earning a teaching degree from Eastern Washington University where Jerry Krause, one of his favorite professors, taught him Kinesiology. Randy also took graduate classes at Gonzaga University cementing his love for the Zags!

Randy went on to pursue teaching Health and Physical Education at Trent Elementary in the East Valley School District for his entire career of over 30 years. He also assisted coaching at East Valley High School. He loved the students that passed through his gym doors; often talking about the memories of all those little kids, even until his passing. He made many friends with his teachers and co-workers, including the administrators, office staff, and janitors.

In addition to his teaching career, Randy started working in high school for 7-UP Bottling company, owned by Maj Roberts and Ralph Petragallo, good friends with Randy's mom and dad. Ralph took Randy to a Super Bowl Game in Pasadena, which was one of the highlights of his life. He then joined the Danzig family at Pepsi and worked weekends, holidays, and summers to augment his teaching salary. Randy was known for having an extremely strong work ethic in all that he did; he was a good honest man, and the Danzig's took good care of him! He truly met lifelong friends at Pepsi.

Randy was well known for his contribution to the wrestling community as he coached and refereed for over 30 years. He was a member of The Inland Empire Wrestling Officials Association and served as Board President from 1989-1992 and was a longtime board member. During that time, he refereed high school matches for 28 years; including over a quarter century officiating the district championships at the regional and state levels. He refereed thirteen state finals at the Mat Classic in Tacoma before retiring in 2003. He was also a member of the Washington State Officials Association. Randy also started a junior wrestling program to feed wrestlers into the high school program. For his numerous contributions and service to the sport, Randy was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, OK in 2006.

In true Italian fashion, Randy was passionate and inquisitive about everything life had to offer-all the details were important to him! He dearly loved his wife, son and his family, sister and husband, his little Maltese dog Bella, friends, co-workers, the Lake, all sports, music, dancing, Pepsi, his homes cars and boats-all immaculately clean, De Cecco pasta with a good Bolognese, The Cowboys, The Zags, and his kids at school and of course "Scharole." He loved to have fun, always laughing with that cute smirky smile; he really had a passion for life!

First and foremost, though was the love for his family; his dad (Pocki) and mom (Nannie) anchored the family with a deep love for one another. Of course, he loved his sister, Sandi, and husband Steve, as well as his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. In 1971, Randy welcomed his pride and joy, son Brian, to the world with his first wife Betty (York) Carlier. His pride for Brian continued to grow as he graduated from Ferris High School, then from the University of Washington, married Suzanne, brought three beautiful children into the world, and excelled in his career. Randy was so tickled in becoming "Papa Randy" to his grandchildren, Chase (23), Sophie (21), and Margot (17). They had a lot of fun together on Lake Coeur d' Alene over the years. As fate would have it, he met his forever love on Lake Coeur d'Alene in 1997, Liz Gabriel, and chased her around the lake, finally marrying her in 2002. They shared the love of the lake, many travel adventures including a dream trip to Italy, Hawaii, Mexico as well as wintering in Arizona and enjoying their lake cabin in the summer. They celebrated over 26 years together this past summer and like his parents, they shared a deep, lasting love for one another. Liz's family loved him too for his spunky Italian attitude.

Randy had so many friends from all facets of his life; childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, work friends, lake friends, Italian friends, wrestling friends, and Arizona friends and he enjoyed a lot of fun times with Liz and her family. They have all shared endearing stories of Randy along with a few nicknames such as Kickstand, Ragu, Randucci, The General, and Ranchero and we are sure there are many more out there.

Randy was blessed with many great doctors, nurses, and caregivers over the years. We have profound respect and appreciation for all that you do, your love, and support.

A Celebration of Life is being planned in the Spring.

Ciao Baby-we love and miss you and look forward to the day we can dance again with you in Heaven.

Published by Spokesman-Review on Jan. 7, 2024.
 

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/spokesman/name/randy-santora-obituary?id=54036361