The Paul Harris Fellowship was bestowed upon two local individuals by the Rotary Club of Livingston during its meeting Thursday. Named for Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary Club, the fellowship is the highest individual honor that is presented to a Rotarian or non-Rotarian. This year’s recipients of the prestigious award are Roger Randolph Sr. and Will Watson.
Roger Randolph
“I’ve had the good fortune of knowing and working with this recipient for over 30 years and in the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know his family on a more personal level and I couldn’t be prouder to make this presentation,” Rotarian Corky Evans said.
“I want to tell you a little about this recipient and then I’ll share with you the contributions he has made to our club and ultimately to our community. While putting this together, three words came to mind – devoted, loyalty and service.
“This recipient is one of nine children born to the late Douglas and Louise Randolph and is a 1987 graduate of Livingston High School. He is extremely devoted to his family. He shares his life with his wife Quetara, an elementary school teacher for 25 years. His oldest son Roger Jr. is a professional DJ. His daughter Shakayla is a graduate of LHS and SFA and is now an elementary school teacher. His youngest son Jayden will begin his second year at Texas A&M this fall.
“He enjoys playing golf, attending car shows, and by the way, he has a really nice car, but most importantly, spending time with this amazing family. He is deeply committed to giving back to our community through donations and volunteering time and service to numerous other charitable organizations, including our club, with most of this work being done behind the scenes.
“He personifies what the word loyalty is about. He began his career with McDonald’s as a crew member over 40 years ago and has remained dedicated throughout his career and continued to advance, to where he is now currently supervising three different restaurants. McDonald’s is the only employer he has ever had.
“Service to our club began in the late 1990s where for over 30 years he has been the backbone of our largest fundraiser – our annual pancake supper. Through his leadership and commitment to service, McDonald’s has enabled our club to make our community a better place. They have provided the sausage, the paper goods, the utensils, the butter, the syrup, the milk – basically, everything but the pancake mix – all at no cost to our club.
“I wouldn’t want to put a number on the value of their contributions, but I bet he can. I have never once taken their support for granted. Every year I will call and ask if they still want to participate and help and without hesitation his response is ‘Absolutely.’ We couldn’t do what we do without his support.
“Devoted, loyalty and service – I can’t think of three better traits to have. I think our founder Paul Harris would be extremely proud of this recipient. On behalf of our club, it’s a pleasure and honor to present this Paul Harris Fellowship to Roger Randolph,” Evans said.
Will Watson
“Our next recipient is a local boy, well grown man. He grew up in Livingston and attended all of his school life in Livingston. He graduated from LISD in 1985 as Salutatorian. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science. He is also a graduate of the University of Texas in Tyler with a Bachelor of Science degree in surveying. While in Tyler, he worked for ELS Surveying & Mapping where he developed procedures for automated data collection for as-built pipeline surveying,” Rotarian Judy Cochran said.
“I’m going to name this person, as you need to know who is getting credit for all of these accomplishments. Will Watson joined the Livingston Rotary Club in 1994, and remained a member until 2001. During that time, he wrote the club’s newsletter, and led various club administration committees. He was awarded his first Paul Harris Fellowship Award in 2000. Will returned to the club in 2014 and started writing for the club’s newsletter again for several years. He became the club secretary in 2018 and received his second Paul Harris award in 2019. In 2020, he started a one-man shop surveying business called Watson Surveying & GIS Services. In 2024, he returned to the appraisal district to bring the mapping system back up to speed.
“After leaving the secretary of the Rotary club position, Will became more involved by helping Mike Overhoff and Andrew Boyce coordinate the district grant projects for SPCA and Habitat for Humanity. Will was a counselor for our most recent Rotary Youth Exchange student Ben Waterkamp. The club awarded him another Paul Harris Fellowship award at this time. Most recently, Will has helped Brandon Wigent coordinate the district grant project for GRACE Pregnancy Outreach. He also headed the public relations committee. Will returned to the role as secretary for Mark Waters’ presidency.
“Will works tirelessly for this organization. He is constantly sending out emails, answering emails, putting things together, researching and organizing and making sure everyone is in touch and knows what is going on. He takes this very personally because he wants this organization to not only survive, but to thrive.
“Will was going to step down as secretary and Mindy Ellis was going to assume the role. However, Mindy had the opportunity to step up to the role of president-elect, so Will agreed to continue being the secretary. We owe a lot to Will for keeping the members, as well as the public, informed about what is going on in Rotary.
“It is my pleasure to present Will Watson with another Paul Harris Fellow Award. It is a beautiful pin with three blue stones in it. Congratulations Will and thank you so much for all that you do for Rotary,” Cochran said.
