Randal "Randy" Blauvelt

Randal (Randy) Richard Blauvelt of Thornton, Colorado, passed away on March 5, 2022 after battling an aggressive metastatic pancreatic cancer for two months. He was 67.

Randy was born April 8, 1954, to parents Irven F. Blauvelt and Vera R. Blauvelt of Holdrege, Nebraska. He was the youngest of their six children, which included two sets of twins. He attended public schools in Holdrege and graduated from Holdrege High School in 1972. Then he attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education in December 1976. While at the university, Randy also held editorial positions with the campus newspaper, The Daily Nebraskan, including managing editor. He also held a summer editing internship with The Lincoln Star and worked as a campus correspondent for the Omaha World-Herald.

After graduation from UNL, Randy worked as a full-time editor and writer for the Omaha World-Herald for three and a half years before moving into corporate communications and public relations with Northern Natural Gas Co. in Omaha in 1980. In 1981 he was promoted into the parent company of Northern – then called InterNorth Inc. – as director of corporate media relations. He was with the company through a major merger and a company name-change to Enron Corp., and a subsequent headquarters move from Omaha to Houston, Texas. He left Enron in 1988 and held other communications and public relations positions with the University of Houston System, Father Flanagan’s Boys Town in Omaha, Bozell Worldwide in Omaha, and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (now Berkshire Hathaway Energy) in Des Moines, Iowa. In late 2002, Randy and his wife, Heather, moved to Thornton, Colorado. In the Denver area, he worked in communications and marketing for the American Indian College Fund, Rocky Mountain PBS television, the American Humane Association, and the Native American-run First Nations Development Institute, from which he retired in June 2019.

In October 1978, Randy married Heather Renee Hilsabeck in Omaha. They enjoyed a strong and loving 42-year marriage until Heather passed away in January 2021 after suffering a devastating series of strokes and seizures. Randy truly believed Heather was an angel on earth and that their marriage was the best thing that ever happened to him. Her passing proved to be a huge blow, as one would expect.

Randy enjoyed many hobbies over the years, including hiking, photography, cross-country skiing, golfing, motorcycling, reading, drumming (kit drumming and later hand-drumming on the djembe and other types of hand drums) and listening to music. He liked most genres.  While living in Houston and keeping his day job, he also played drums for a time in a rock band called The Kinetics (under the stage name “Rand Richards” for various reasons) which played many taverns, dive bars, clubs and private parties, mostly along the Texas Gulf Coast. While living in the Denver area, he actively participated in numerous drum circles, campouts and retreats.

Besides his wife, Randy was preceded in death by his parents, his oldest sister Jean, brother Terry, sister Bette, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law, who were John and Arlene Hilsabeck of Omaha, Nebraska, and then Greeley, Colorado. Left to celebrate his life are his two remaining brothers, Tim (Carol) Blauvelt in Manassas, Virginia; and Brad (Mary) Blauvelt in Rapid City, South Dakota; his sister-in-law Heidi Hilsabeck, and his brother-in-law Hale Hilsabeck, both in Colorado; as well as many cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and acquaintances. Life without Randy and his boundless sense of humor has left his loved ones with a hole in their hearts.

A Celebration of Life gathering for Randy will be held on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. MDT at The Chateaux at Fox Meadows, 13600 Xavier Lane, Broomfield, CO 80023. Randy's Memorial Graveside Service and Inurnment will be held on Saturday, July 2, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. CDT at the Prairie Home Cemetery in Holdrege, Nebraska. A time of fellowship and lunch will follow at the Cobblestone Inn in Holdrege.