Randy Michael Kaar

RANDY KAAR Age 56 of St. Paul June 5, 1957 ~ September 14, 2013 Loving husband, dad and papa. Survived by wife, Ann; children, Shannon and Shawn; and 4 grandchildren. Visitation 4-8PM on Thursday, September 19, 2013 at Mueller Memorial, 835 Johnson Parkway, St. Paul. LIFE STORY Randy was born on June 5th 1957. He was the youngest of 3 boys (Rick & Tom) born & raised in St Paul. Growing up, his passion was cars, especially working on the mustang drag car, that his friend, Dick, owned. Many week-ends were spent at MN drag ways, where he also ran a t-shirt booth. His mom bought a new car one year (sky hawk) and Randy decided to see just how fast that new car would go... Can you imagine the look on his mom's face as she witnessed her brand new car going down the drag strip! He later attended 916 Vo-Tech to pursue his passion in the auto mechanic field. He received his diploma in 1978 in "auto mechanics". In 1980, he was certified as a "master auto technician". Randy spent nearly the next 25yrs in the auto mechanic field. One of his proudest moments, was co-owning "Arnal's Auto Service" in Maplewood. After leaving the automotive field, Randy began a new career at Coates RV as a RV technician. He did this for almost 10 years. After being laid off, he decided to change his career path to building maintenance. Two weeks prior to becoming ill, Randy had received a job offer from the city of St Paul. I cannot tell you, how ecstatic this man was, when he received that phone call... I met Randy when I was 14, he was just turning 16. His brother, Tom, was marrying my cousin, LouAnn, so we met before their wedding. It was not until I turned 17, that we "hooked" up again. Unknown to me, Randy told everyone, he was going to marry me one day... We were married on Jan 14th 1978 where we would still call St Paul our home. In Jan of 1979, we had our first child, Shannon. In April of 1983, our son, Shawn, was born. We had our perfect family. Randy could not have been a prouder dad. He also became the neighborhood dad to many of our kid's friends. They all loved him. In 2000, Randy became a grandpa for the first time, when Ashley was born. Time blessed us with 2 more grand-daughters, Kaia & Makayla, and 1 grandson, Kaden. He was so very proud of his grandchildren. They meant the world to him. Family was his greatest priority in life. Randy loved animals as much as he loved people. There was never a time in Randy's life or our lives that we did not have animals, most of whom came to us. His favorite pal was our black lab, Buddy, who we had rescued from the streets 4 yrs ago. Randy had such a special way with animals & they loved him. Even the wild rabbits in our back yard were not afraid of him, as he spoke to them daily. I will never forget yrs ago, we attended the Ramsey Co fair and Randy put a Chinese duck in his shirt to bring home. He thought, he could sneak it in the car without me knowing until the duck poked his head out and started quacking. Yes, he brought it home & he lived with us for 2 yrs. Randy's favorite past times was old music, auto racing, the MNO website and cooking. His favorite place was, at our property in Pine Co, where he & his best friend, Rick, had the best of times. Randy was a wonderful cook, loving to create his own recipes for his family. He valued our opinion. He smoked meat and loved to bbq. A few times we traveled to the BBQ competitions which he loved. Randy loved the "oldies" music. I believe he had approx 30,000 songs on his computer. We enjoyed these as we sat around the camp fire in our back yard. If there was an auto race on tv, you would find Randy watching it. Years ago, we traveled in our motor home, with friend, Dick, drag racing on week-ends. Randy even tried his skills ice racing at Bayport, as well. One day, he called me at work and said, "Honey, we have to go buy a new car tonight." I said why, he said well... because I turned our car into an ice racer. I don't think I have to tell you my response but good thing, I loved this man! Our camping tradition continued for many years with the kids. Randy spent a great deal of time on the "MNO" website where he was moderator for many yrs. He made many good friends (Tim) on that site. Randy was a special man... His heart was filled with kindness & love for people & animals. His most favorite thing was to make people laugh and that is what he did best. Even, his final days in the hospital, he continued to make the doctors & nurses laugh. We were asked many times, about his sense of humor. I believe, this is how many of you will remember him. For those of you that didn't know Randy as well, I hope I shared with you, a greater picture of who Randy Kaar really was... For those that knew him, we were truly blessed...