Richard & Helen Randle’s Legacy Story

Richard Randle served in the Armed Forces for 35 years in the infantry, army, payroll and logistical services. His career as an army officer took him and Helen to every province in the country except PEI and Newfoundland and he also did two tours with NATO – one in Germany and one with the UN in Gaza. Helen’s teaching career took her from one room classrooms in rural communities to city classrooms in Kingston, Winnipeg, Ottawa and two years in West Germany where she met Richard in 1956.

“Friends took me to a military club “mess” and I said to them “there must be one eligible man in this town and they said there is and he’s here, just look for the tall, dark good looking man wearing a bow tie. I spotted him. Richard’s friends asked him if he knew the lady in the blue dress staring at him. So he looked over at me and I raised my glass and that was it – we were together from that time forward.”

After he retired from the Armed Forces, Richard worked as a financial services officer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Then Abbotsford became home for Helen and Richard where they shared their love of classical music and finally had an opportunity to put down roots in one place. So it is not surprising that when they were working with their Investment Advisor in 1999, that they would include plans to support the causes that mattered most to them.

The path they chose to realize their goal was to create an endowment fund with the Abbotsford Community Foundation where the income would support several local organizations each year. They chose to use insurance to make this happen. They purchased a term insurance policy that also included an investment component and paid the premiums with money that CRA required they take out of their RIFF account. They were fortunate that this was money they didn’t actually need to support them. They received charitable tax receipts for their premium payments which they were able to use to offset tax owed on their income.

When making their plans they decided the income from their endowment would support the Abbotsford Regional Hospital, Fraser Valley Regional Library and fund programs and facilities benefiting seniors knowing ACF would take care of their wishes.

What pleased them both about their plan, was that by investing a relatively small amount, they were able to create a significant endowment that will help the causes they care about the most in Abbotsford in perpetuity.

Sadly, Richard passed a few years before Helen, who passed away in March 2020.