Lynda Randals Hail
If you are a Christian, there are many different ways to serve God. Dublin graduate Lynda Randals Hail’s opportunity came in the form of a job as a business office manager at a monastery. For the 14 years she worked there, she’d take care of the monks, and be there for them when they needed her. “I felt like that was my life’s mission,” she said. “My way to serve God was to help these men serve God.”
Hail graduated from Dublin High School in May of 1971, and in July, she married Rick Hail, who she had met through her sister her senior year. Soon after, the couple had their first daughter, and then another a while later, and over the next few years Hail devoted most of her time to being a mother.
When both her daughters were in school, Hail started thinking about what she would do when she had the time to work again. She decided to enroll at Tarleton through their long-term program to feel out her options.
“When I started college, I didn’t intend to graduate,” she said. “I just went to learn some different things, improve my typing skills and shorthand, so I’d have a marketable skill if I went out to get a job.”
She initially decided to study banking and finance, influenced by her father, Lusk T. Randals, who had served as the vice president of the Dublin National Bank. But she soon found that she didn’t like the finance classes as much as she liked accounting and statistics.
She graduated with her degree in general business in 1986, and soon after, the family relocated to Oklahoma for Rick’s job. Hail began looking around for work in the area, and found a position as an administrative assistant at a Baptist retirement home in Owasso, Oklahoma. “I just fell in love with those residents at the home,” she said. “I loved to visit with them, and hear their life stories and their history.”
When Rick was transferred again, this time to Shawnee, Oklahoma, Hail found another administrative job as the executive secretary to the president of Oklahoma Baptist University. “When I was asked to come in and interview for the executive secretary position, I was just thinking, ‘I can’t do that,’” she said. “It was a big responsibility and I didn’t feel competent. But I accepted the job anyway.”
The job ended up being perfect for her. “[The president] was so compassionate,” she said. “He just made it easy to work there. You deal with so much confidential stuff, and some of the stuff would really bother me, but he was so easy to go and talk to. He was a great pastor, as well as a university president.”
Hail stayed at Oklahoma Baptist University for six years before another opportunity came up, this time working in development at St Gregory’s University.
“I don’t know why but I just felt like God led me about a mile up the road to St. Gregory’s,” Hail said. “That’s a Catholic University, and I’m Baptist. And I remember driving up that driveway and thinking, ‘God, what are you doing?’”
She was hired the day after her interview, and spent a short time working there before the president of St. Gregory’s offered her another opportunity. “He was also the abbot at the monastery which was basically across the street there on campus, and he asked me if I’d be interested in coming over there to the monastery and being the business office manager,” Hail said.
She took him up on her offer, and ended up staying at the monastery — which was the only monastery of priests in Oklahoma — for 14 years. “That was really the best job I’ve ever had,” she said.
There were 25 monks when she started, ranging in age from their 30s to much older. Her job was to keep the books, handle payroll and insurance, and generally keep the monastery running smoothly. “I took care of those monks,” she said. “Anything they needed, I took care of. Some of them even call me their mama.”
Working with the monks was Hail’s favorite part of the job. “They were just a remarkable group of men,” she said. “They were human, they had their faults, but it was a pleasure to help them.”
And the work helped her connect with her faith in ways she hadn’t before. “Working with the monks made me realize that our foundation is all the same; our foundation is God,” she said. “We may reach it in a different way, but it’s all the same. It really broadened my faith.”
Hail retired in march of 2019. Since then, she and her husband have moved from Shawnee back to Owasso, where their daughter Celinda lives, along with two of their four grandchildren. (Their oldest daughter, Rhonda, lives in Whitewright, TX just outside of Sherman, and has two grown sons.)
“We moved right at the beginning of the pandemic,” she said. “I haven’t done a whole lot since then, but I love to garden work outside in the yard and I like to read. I love Civil War era romances, or just anything Civil War. I like to watch murder mysteries movies on TV. and I like to stay in contact with my classmates.”
Hail’s class will celebrate their 50th class reunion this year. She’s looking forward to traveling back to see her friends. “Our class has just always been close, and a lot of them still live in Dublin,” she said.
This year is another big anniversary for Hail as well — her 50th wedding anniversary with her husband Rick. “We’ll be back in Stephenville, and we’re gonna celebrate with a private family barbecue dinner,” she said.
Hail offers the following advice to Dublin graduates: “Respect those around you no matter their age, religion or nationality,” she said. “In every position I ever held I was respected and it made my job much easier. If you give respect you will earn respect. You don’t know the situation of people surrounding you so don’t judge them, just show them kindness. Also, my dad always told me, “take good care of your credit and your credit will take care of you” and that has certainly proven to be true. The older you get the smarter your parents will become. Listen to their advice, they have life experience that can be an advantage to your young life.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other graduates, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.