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Remembering Randy at the Giant grocery
Customers, co-workers compliment and share warm memories of a man who found his own way to connect at work
Date published: 11/20/2003 By ROB HEDELT TO 3-YEAR-OLD Landon McDaniel it was a perfectly simple request, but it left her grandmother and a Fredericksburg florist in tears earlier this week. "My friend, Randy, I'm here to buy him a rose," the little Stafford County girl said simply. "He's an angel now." McDaniel, who routinely accompanies her grandmother on trips to the Giant Food store on the U.S. 1 Bypass in Fredericksburg, wasn't exactly sure what had happened to her friend there, courtesy clerk Randy Groves, the pal she took stickers to on every visit and once described as "her best friend in the world." Little Landon didn't fully understand the concept of death and dying when her parents and grandparents talked to her about the auto accident last week that claimed the life of the Giant employee, who could neither hear nor speak. She just knew she wanted to buy a pretty flower, a rose, for the 52-year-old friend who will no longer be there when she visits the Giant supermarket at Park & Shop Shopping Center. Her grandmother, Laysea Barnes, said "Randy made Landon feel so, so special. He touched so many lives that way." Groves was trying to cross Lafayette Boulevard about 8:30 p.m. last Wednesday when he was hit. He died later at Mary Washington Hospital. After a wave of response to news of Groves' death, I visited the Giant store this week to talk with customers and fellow employees. Though Groves could not speak or hear, they said, he found ways to connect with others. Debbie Gracik, a checker from Hartwood, said the staff at Giant was devastated by the news of the accident, partly because they all tried to watch out for him. "Randy couldn't talk to customers, but he found his own way to communicate with them," she said. "He was very sensitive, and noticed when someone was upset or down." Gracik said the employees are trying to raise money to help cover funeral expenses for their friend. A bake sale will be held in front of the store on Dec. 6.
Date published: 11/20/2003
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