Randol Thomas Wessel

Baby Randol Thomas Wessel

Randol Thomas Wessel passed peacefully and surrounded by his family on April 17th, 2014. He was born at 12:56 a.m. and grew his angel wings at 5:22 a.m. the same day, just moments after his baptism. Randol Thomas demonstrated a tenacious desire to exist and to affirm life even against the greatest of obstacles, inspiring so many by his stamina and strength, and making his mom and dad so proud. His little life will be a memory of nothing but love, innocence and purity.

Randol Thomas was the cherished first-born son of Matt and Katie (Spaulding) Wessel of Whitefish Bay. In addition to his parents, Randol Thomas is survived and deeply loved by his grandparents: Randol and Amy Spaulding of West Bend, WI and Jim and Patrice Elacqua of Redwood City, CA; his aunts and uncles: Jason and Amanda (Spaulding) Baltz, Joe and Cassie (Spaulding) Erato, Claire Spaulding, Randy Spaulding and Jack Spaulding, Dave and Nicki (Wessel) Parker, Bill and Kim (Wessel) Kohler, Nathan and Beth (Wessel) Colson, Amy Wessel and Natalie Price, Ben Wessel and Mike Wessel; and many little cousins: Madeline, Bella, Beau, Giuseppe, Tommy, Genevieve, Giovanni, Maddie, Anneliese, Giorgio, Sammy and Alessandra. He was greeted in Heaven with an enthusiastic “thumbs-up” by his grandfather, Tom, and his great-grandparents, Eileen, Lorraine, Gene, Donald and Richard.

Matt and Katie would like to thank the incredible staff at Froedert’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic, the caring nurses at Froedert’s Labor and Delivery department, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s NICU, the staff at Columbia St. Mary’s, and their gracious family and friends for carrying them through this journey.

But most importantly …

“Little Randy, thank you for finally making us parents – the greatest accomplishment of our lives. While the time after your birth was filled with sadness and fear, there was still so much joy. You were finally here, with a head full of blonde hair, and you lived a life that only knew love. You were born to us. And you were born perfect. You will be preserved as a perfect, innocent heart forever. You have shown us more about life and love, serenity and peace that we ever knew. We could only dream of having the impact that you did in your little life in ours. As your parents, we are so proud of your life and that it was gifted to us. We will, without question, be better parents and better people because of you. We will never forget you and you will always be apart of our family. We’ll love you forever. We’ll like you for always. As long as we’re living, our baby you’ll be.” (Love, Mom and Dad)

A Memorial Service was held at Three Holy Women Parish – St. Hedwig’s Church, with Father Timothy Kitzke presiding. In lieu of flowers, the Randol Thomas Wessel Memorial Fund has been set up at Associated Bank, 430 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay, WI 53217. Checks may be made out to the fund, and deposited at any Associated Bank. The proceeds will be donated for research into premature births.

Please go to http://mattwessel.wordpress.com to read Matt’s blog post on April 19, 2014 entitled “World’s Best Mom”

Please go to http://www.jsonline.com to read Jim Stingl’s “In My Opinion” article which ran in the Sunday, May 4, 2014 edition of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.