Emma Elizabeth French Randel, a devoted wife, mother, and trailblazing pioneer in Virginia’s wine industry, passed away peacefully at her home in Woodstock, Virginia, on March 21, 2025, at the age of 98.

Born on November 1, 1926, in Woodstock, Virginia, Emma was the daughter of Warren B. French Sr. and Lena Sheetz French. The third of eight siblings, she exhibited extraordinary intellect and determination from an early age. At just 16 years old, Emma graduated as valedictorian of Woodstock High School’s Class of 1943. She continued her education at Duke University, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and earned a degree in Economics in 1947.

After World War II, Emma moved to Washington, D.C., where she met James B. Randel Jr., who would become her husband and steadfast partner. Together they built a life filled with love and shared purpose. The couple eventually settled in New Jersey for Jim’s career and there they raised their five children. She was a devoted mother, making home-cooked meals everyday, including dessert. Emma also found time to give back to her community, including by volunteering at a local hospital where she was a Pink Lady.

In 1972, Emma and Jim returned to Virginia and planted grapes on their farm in Edinburg — a venture that blossomed into Shenandoah Vineyards, which they opened in 1976. Following Jim’s untimely passing shortly thereafter, Emma assumed leadership of the winery with remarkable courage and resolve. Under her long stewardship (only retiring at age 92), Shenandoah Vineyards thrived and became a cornerstone of Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry. Today, it stands as the oldest active winery in Virginia — a living testament to Emma’s vision and perseverance.

Emma’s leadership earned Shenandoah Vineyards’ wines numerous awards, but her impact extended far beyond her own vineyard. Her efforts helped elevate Virginia to prominence as a respected wine region. 

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More on Emma Elizabeth French Randel RIP–In 1972, Emma and Jim returned to Virginia and planted grapes on their farm in Edinburg — a venture that blossomed into Shenandoah Vineyards, which they opened in 1976. Following Jim's untimely passing shortly thereafter, Emma assumed… pic.twitter.com/5VXsryylmC

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 27, 2025

Hearing from @DrGRMcDermott at St. Luke’s #Anglican Theology Conference speak on sexual difference and how we cannot know image of God without knowing both sexes. Our bodies and relationship point to deeper reality about union with God. pic.twitter.com/nVGL7H5FmE

— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) February 27, 2025

“Where does Jesus want to take us in the adventure of discipleship? Where does Jesus want to take us in the adventure of discipleship?

Every word in that question is carefully chosen. I want to focus in on that little word, adventure. Most of us don’t think of discipleship and following Jesus as an adventure, but the Bible does.

There is a great moment in Jeremiah early on in the story. Jeremiah has been called, and the Lord has known him since he was in his mother’s womb. But things have gotten started, and there have been ups and downs, and Jeremiah feels like there’s been more downs than ups. And he’s getting tired. So he prays to the Lord, and he basically says, This is getting too hard. What do you think you’re doing? Can you make it a little easier? And the Lord responds in this way, chapter 12, verse 5. If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan, (where there may be things like lions roaming around)?

“Eugene Peterson wrote a whole book on that verse and that theme. Its title is Run with the Horses, the quest for life at its best. That is the way that discipleship has been understood in the tradition that’s handed down to us. An incredible adventure, a breathtaking life of excitement and thrills, an unpredictability, a life which is full of deep purpose and faith.

Oh, it sounds like our Lord even. The glory of God, Irenaeus once said, is a human being fully alive. Well, if you want to know what God wants for humanity, look at Jesus, he’s fully alive, all the time. He’s giving life, he’s living life, he’s being life, he’s life incarnate. That’s what God wants for us.

Jesus says it this way in John 10, verse 10. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. You all with me so far? Okay, so here’s the question. How do we do that? How do we get that kind of life? How do you live a life that is an adventure of discipleship? All right, well, I appreciate you asking a question. Turn to Luke chapter 5 and this magnificent story of the miraculous catch of fish…

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where will your adventures take you today?

Richmond Park

James Kliffen pic.twitter.com/KbSmZp3QxB

— The Royal Parks (@theroyalparks) February 11, 2025

Let us take them each in their turn. We want to begin with verses 14 and 15. So first of all, the surprise of Jesus’ ministry. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. Luke is at great pains to get us to understand that the same Spirit that led him to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days is the same Spirit that is leading him to do this. It’s the same Spirit that came down when the father’s voice said at his baptism, this is my son with whom I’m well pleased. He’s led by the Spirit. This is a depiction of the Spirit led life. And what needs to strike you about this scene is word is getting out about this guy. We can just capitalize on last week’s sermon about that wedding in Cana. Remember that most of the people at the wedding didn’t even really know what was going on at the time. But believe me, that was the best wine anybody ever had. And after that, everybody in Cana of Gallile was talking about him. And they didn’t just talk about him there. 

They talked about him when they went along the road, and when they visited relatives, and word is getting around. So if we look at Mark chapter 1, Jesus is preaching, Jesus is teaching, Jesus is healing people of demons, Jesus is healing people of physical diseases, and the word is out about this guy, and there’s a real buzz. At the end of Mark chapter 1, talk about capturing the idea, Jesus has done a whole day’s ministry, he’s completely exhausted, the disciples can’t find him, so they go find him. He’s out by himself at a lonely place where he’s praying, and when they get to him, they say this, how’s this for an advertisement? Everyone is looking for you. 

It’s stunning, the level of surprise that we’re meant to have as we get our early depiction of our Lord’s ministry. And please note, look at your text carefully, the repetition of that little word, all. Twice. All the surrounding country, and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all. And even though it isn’t in our reading today, it’s only the next verse down. I’m going to cheat a little bit because it’s also part of Luke’s narrative.

At the end of all this in verse 22, just in case we missed the first two alls, there is yet another all–‘And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.’

“This is an amazing ministry. It’s full of popular interest, intrigue, curiosity, and excitement. This is the way that ministry is supposed to be. To glorify means to honor, to praise. It’s a word that means heaviness, and it means that they can’t fully express the heaviness and the weight of Christ’s character because they’re so amazed and stunned by the level of what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. They have no categories for this guy. It’s fresh, it’s stunning, it’s marvelous, it’s surprising. Everybody with me? So surprising Jesus, who’s done all these surprising things, comes to his own synagogue. Hmm, I wonder what’s going to happen.” 

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Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
Christ Teaching in the Synagogue at Nazareth pic.twitter.com/EhZW8EqAwD

— PubHist (@Pub_Hist) April 30, 2022

“First of all, it’s a party. We could just spend the rest of the morning on this. God likes parties. You do know that. Heaven is going to be one big party. Jesus liked parties. Jesus was a party animal. He went to lots of them. He told stories about parties. He was a very fun guy to be with. Who do you think made monkeys? God or Satan? I sometimes say to people and they look at me like I’m funny. But you can’t really look at a monkey for very long without starting to laugh. It’s part of God’s creation. God has a magnificent sense of humor. So did Jesus. He was a fun guy. It’s why he attracted so many crowds so often in so many circumstances. And it’s a very ordinary wedding in a very ordinary town, in the town of Cana, some nine miles north of Nazareth where he grew up. And it’s an environment where his family seems to be familiar.”

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For the day that’s in it. Veronese’ wedding at Cana, how many times have we stared at this painting only because it is in the same room as a young Miss Gioconda. pic.twitter.com/GU461bPNqW

— Alan O’Neill (@ApmNeill) January 19, 2025

“Happy Christmas, that’s what they say in England. I’ve always loved it. Happy Christmas. I have a simple question for you. What does Christmas actually mean? Gonna go right down the middle of the plate, right for the jugular this morning. What does it actually mean? And can I just start out by observing with you that we’ve been given a tradition, we stand on the shoulders of people who’ve come before us, they’ve given us the church, the church has a liturgical calendar, and in the wisdom of the church and the liturgical calendar, Christmas is a 12-day season. Sometimes it even has two Sundays like this season. And the reason it’s a 12-day season is because it’s so super significant, we need time to fully try to think through some of what it means, which is what we’re going to try to do this morning. So here’s what I’m going to say. That it happened, how it happened, and why it happened. What does Christmas mean? It happened, how did it happen, why did it happen? You all with me? All right, ready, set, go. First of all, that it happened….

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London's National Gallery has restored Piero della Francesca's Nativity. The painting is unfinished and was damaged in the past: notably the faces of the two shepherds on the right have been erased. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/r6BiFjebmU

— Rembrandt's Rm (@RembrandtsRoom) December 22, 2023

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“The Annunciation” (1652) by Eustache Le Sueur at the Louvre pic.twitter.com/WNlYXKvrcp

— Ryan (@alwaysonoffense) March 25, 2021

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Bacchiacca (1494 – 1557)
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness pic.twitter.com/6CXlpnuAiE

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) June 15, 2024

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Ephesians 6:10✞ pic.twitter.com/AbeBCbf8zT

— Catherine ♡ =^..^= (@Catangels) November 13, 2024

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Ephesians 4:1-2

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,”

“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” pic.twitter.com/iBwxIOaJDy

— Mike C (Let me for you) (@clanceman65) October 29, 2024

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Manna from the Mountains
IN WHOMS – In Ephesians
1. We have Redemption (1:7)
2. We trusted (1:13)
3. Believing we are sealed (1:13)
4. We have an inheritance (1:11)
5. We are builded together (2:22)
6. The building is framed together (2:21)
7. We have access (3:12) pic.twitter.com/sgDfuAskoR

— Bro Dave Noffsinger (@mbcbrodave) August 20, 2024

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Ephesians 2: 1-10 pic.twitter.com/ZyRILawekr

— coins (@coinsblanciak) September 29, 2024

Nothing like having no electricty to make you appreciate its importance–KSH.

Our coverage of Hurricane Helene is available for free as a public service. Get the latest information about the storm here: https://t.co/ABal4ou7nG pic.twitter.com/KBg1VdVB5b

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) September 27, 2024

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Christ Healing the Deaf-Mute
from Das Plenarium by Hans Schäufelein, 1517
happy Sunday pic.twitter.com/HFINDxGGZg

— Marysia (@marysia_cc) September 8, 2024

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Today's art: The Multiplication of Bread and Fish – Van Limburg brothers https://t.co/adtpCwP3I5 pic.twitter.com/nkkmm5qezG

— Art and the Bible (@artbible) September 6, 2022

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Today Jesus sends out the twelve apostles (Mk 6:7-13). In the original Greek, an "apostle" is one who is sent. All of us are are "sent" to do a certain mission in our lives. The most important part of that mission is remembering who sends us. A meditation: https://t.co/YLZ7HcHtGC pic.twitter.com/iKMe3qKS5E

— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) July 14, 2024

Good morning from @summervillesc #SouthCarolina #lowcountrylife #chswx #scwx #dogsmakelifebetter @EdPiotrowski pic.twitter.com/aukUyY3seL

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 16, 2024

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“And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.”
Mark 6:5-6 ESVhttps://t.co/QgHoI84y7M pic.twitter.com/HGiiaRyWHe

— Will Worsham (@wworsham) November 11, 2021

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Gospel: Today's stunning Gospel reading often shocks people: Jesus's relatives, including Mary, come to Capernaum to "restrain" or "seize" him (κρατῆσαι) because they thought "he was out of his mind." Everyone faces opposition, even Jesus. Don't let it deter you. (Mk 3:21-25) pic.twitter.com/jjKUXksH9B

— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) January 20, 2018

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Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles,empowering them with divine inspiration&guidance.Just as flames danced upon their heads,let this Pentecost renew our faith&fill our hearts with the warmth of divine love.#Pentecost #feastofpentecost pic.twitter.com/v4usaCfCut

— The John Bradburne Memorial Society (@BradburneJohn) May 19, 2024

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Willem Drost (19 April 1633 – 25 February 1659) was a Dutch painter.Saint John pic.twitter.com/qEIhl182eK

— Yiannis Einstein-Ιωάννης Αρβανιτάκης (@yianniseinstein) March 30, 2020

As is our custom, we aim to let go of the cares and concerns of this world until Monday and to focus on the great, awesome, solemn and holy events of the next three days. I would ask people to concentrate their comments on the personal, devotional, and theological aspects of these days which will be our focal point here. Many thanks–KSH.

'Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.'
Psalm 90: 1- 2 pic.twitter.com/oH6DISOdry

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) March 27, 2024

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An early 16th century representation of Christ on the back of a donkey. Part of the collections at the Bode Museum in Berlin. #PalmSunday My own. pic.twitter.com/AauiId9Lpf

— Kevin Wilbraham (@KPW1453) March 24, 2024

We are going to take a break from the Anglican, Religious, Financial, Cultural, and other news until later in the Christmas season to focus from this evening forward on the great miracle of the Incarnation–KSH.

Happy Christmas Eve! Here is the Nativity scene from St Phillip's cathedral, Birmingham, looking extra festive with attendant Christmas tree #StainedGlassSunday pic.twitter.com/I1ir3Lk8Kf

— Dr Naomi (@BooksTeaFilms) December 24, 2023

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Today's pick: Caravaggio: St John the Baptist (1604) https://t.co/4GpRchR5GI pic.twitter.com/n9obXdpmzL

— Art and the Bible (@artbible) May 7, 2021

I am sad to say I had another brain freeze during this one and said Lamech was in the wrong chapter in genesis he is in chapter 4.

#ArtFortheWeekend

Leandro Bassano
c 1595-1596
The Last Judgement
The National Museum
Of Western Art
Tokyo
Japan@LuciaTassan @___Diamonddust_ @redne2013 @LuisaM56_ @angelicadisogno @GiuseppeTurrisi @alecoscino @mariaireneali @Hakflak @overlooki pic.twitter.com/5s5iXFZKfd

— Dil (@Asamsakti) June 27, 2020

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The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Domenico Fetti, c. 1620.

Jesus says: this is you, when you refuse to forgive others as you have been forgiven. Matt. 18:21-35 pic.twitter.com/dui1BzAErX

— Neil Shenvi (@NeilShenvi) August 16, 2022

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“We can’t put God in a box. I want to see a different side of evangelism that I’m not used to seeing. I like the challenge of being a little uncomfortable.”

Jenny, who is used to doing street-evangelism, is excited to see how God will move in Flint at the #GodLovesYouTour. pic.twitter.com/8zVEamNGx5

— BGEA (@BGEA) September 29, 2022

On [a] Monday [in September 2003], the last of the 343 firefighters who died on September 11th was buried. Because no remains of Michael Ragusa, age 29, of Engine Company 279, were found and identified, his family placed in his coffin a very small vial of his blood, donated years ago to a bone-marrow clinic. At the funeral service Michael’s mother Dee read an excerpt from her son’s diary on the occasion of the death of a colleague. “It is always sad and tragic when a fellow firefighter dies,” Michael Ragusa wrote, “especially when he is young and had everything to live for.” Indeed. And what a sobering reminder of how many died and the awful circumstances in which they perished that it took until this week to bury the last one.

So here is to the clergy, the ministers, rabbis, imams and others, who have done all these burials and sought to help all these grieving families. And here is to the families who lost loved ones and had to cope with burials in which sometimes they didn’t even have remains of the one who died. And here, too, is to the remarkable ministry of the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, who played every single service for all 343 firefighters who lost their lives. The Society chose not to end any service at which they played with an up-tempo march until the last firefighter was buried.

On Monday, in Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, the Society therefore played “Garry Owen” and “Atholl Highlander,” for the first time since 9/11 as the last firefighter killed on that day was laid in the earth. On the two year anniversary here is to New York, wounded and more sober, but ever hopeful and still marching.

–First published on this blog September 11, 2003

A total of 343 New York fire service personnel died trying to save lives on 9/11. pic.twitter.com/7ziMiFBLnq

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) September 11, 2023