John Dennis Randolph was born 1923 in Claremore, Oklahoma. As a child, he moved frequently because his father worked in the oil industry and the family traveled to wherever jobs were available. He attended public schools in Texas and Oklahoma. He experienced progressive hearing loss over his childhood from a variety of diseases, starting with whooping cough in 1926, scarlet fever in 1932, and a double mastoid infection in 1935 that left him completely deaf in one ear and with severe hearing loss in the other.

Mr. Randolph transferred to the Texas School for the Deaf in 1933 and graduated in 1940, going on to Gallaudet College. While at Gallaudet, he came close to failing out of the school due to personal conflict with Elizabeth Peet, who taught French and refused to have Mr. Randolph in her class. With the support of college president Dr. Percival Hall, Mr. Randolph was allowed to go to the University of Texas to complete his French requirement for graduation. He stayed at UT to study for a master’s degree in organic chemistry, although he was told by friends and associates that he was making a mistake; they feared discrimination against deaf workers in the scientific field would prevent him from getting a job.

Mr. Randolph graduated in 1948 and first found work doing cancer research at the Rees-Stealy foundation in San Diego. When the grant for that project expired in 1953, he returned to UT for further study, and then took a job as an analytical chemist for the federal Bureau of Mines in 1955. The next year, he transferred to the US Patent Office, where he worked as an examiner for the rest of his career. At the same time, Mr. Randolph enrolled in Georgetown Law School, receiving an LL.B. degree in 1960. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was heavily involved in target shooting competitions, particularly in the World Games for the Deaf. He was a liaison for the 1965 World Games in Washington and was captain of the American shooting team for the 1969 team in Belgrade. He also participated in the 1973 World Games in Malmö, Sweden.

After suffering a serious heart attack at work, Mr. Randolph retired in 1982. He passed away on June 30, 1992.