Frances “Franny” Delaplaine Randall, Class of 1945, is one of Hood’s treasures, an ardent alumna whose involvement in the life of the College began as a child, when her mother, a 1913 Hood graduate, regaled her daughter with stories of “life at Hood.”
Franny was born October 6, 1924, the daughter of Ruth Carty and George B. Delaplaine, Sr. of Frederick, Maryland. A 1941 graduate of Frederick High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Hood in 1945, and a master of science degree in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1947. On April 10, 1949, Franny married Myron W. Randall, Sr., born October 7, 1922, in Geneva, Ohio, an engineer with Bendix Radio in Baltimore. The couple moved to Frederick in 1965 where they raised a family of four children. Myron died November 26, 2000.
Franny was involved in several aspects of campus life while she was a student. She became a member of WORMS, and she was in the Hood Choir and sang Sunday services in Brodbeck Music Hall. She has been a big supporter of Hood throughout her life. A devoted alumna, Franny served on the Hood College Board of Trustees from 1988 to 2000. She was president of the Hood College Alumnae Association during the College’s Centennial Celebration in 1992-1993, sharing her knowledge of Hood’s history in countless ways. She has volunteered as a class agent and phonathon volunteer, and was president of the Frederick Hood Club. In 1998 she was awarded the Excellence in Alumnae Service Award, and in 2006, an honorary degree, in recognition of her lifelong service and commitment to Hood.
Interested in music, she endowed the Randall Family Chamber Music Concert Series in 2007. She supported the Whitaker Campus Center, the relocation of the Delaplaine Reading Garden, the renovation of Shriner Hall, and the refurbishing of the former Hodson Pool in Gambrill Gymnasium, swimming the first lap at its rededication.
In 2011 the Frances Delaplaine Randall Green Room, a space for artists performing in Brodbeck Music Hall, was named in her honor. The George E. Randall Award for Excellence in Journalism, awarded annually, is named in honor of her late son, George E. Randall, former president of Randall Family LLC, and editor and publisher of The Frederick News-Post, who died in 2004. She has continued to be the contact for the Robert E. and Ruth M. Delaplaine 1906 Scholarship, established in 1955.
A writer and historian, she serves as chair of the Board of Directors of Randall Family LLC, owners and publishers of The Frederick News-Post, the oldest and only family-owned newspaper in Maryland. Her grandfather, William T. Delaplaine, founded The News in 1883, a decade before the founding of Hood.
