Cole Randall '27
Friendship and connection. Growth, of the professional and personal kind. Engineering and social science.
Cole Randall ’27 is living his best Union life – and honoring a U.S. Army veteran at the same time.
He recently helped Dr. David Matloff, father of Ellen Matloff ’91, chronicle his experience as a MASH surgeon in Vietnam (1967-1969).
The resulting memoir, “Reflections from Vietnam/David B. Matloff Collection,” was accepted by the Library of Congress earlier this year. The publication, as well as a video of David recounting his experience, is now available on the library’s website.
Randall, who is majoring in mechanical engineering and political science, worked on the memoir for months with David, who spent 30 years as a general surgeon at Geneva (N.Y.) General Hospital following the war. Randall provided editorial support and submitted the final draft to the library.
“I have always enjoyed history, and I find the best way to learn is through primary sources. This project was a great way to expand my research methodology, explore a neat topic, and meet someone interesting,” Randall said. “David is now a close friend, and I call him regularly to check in.”
“Getting his memoir accepted by the Library of Congress feels like an accomplishment, and it feels like an important step to preserve a critical part of history,” he added. “This was a very rewarding process, and it was so distinctly different from my engineering publications on composites.”
This ability to enjoy a spectrum of experiences – educational and otherwise – is paramount to Randall.
“It has been very beneficial for me to engage with engineering and other disciplines – the main reason I came to Union was to do engineering and political science,” he said. “This project exposed me to research and publication methods distinct from those employed in engineering.
David Matloff
“It’s very valuable to be exposed to the statistics-heavy STEM research as well as the more interview-based, personal side of research.”
For her part, Ellen Matloff couldn’t be happier with the way everything turned out.
About one-and-a-half years ago, she was searching for a college student to fill a paid position to help her dad chronicle his Vietnam experiences. She reached out to her father’s alma maters, Yale University (undergraduate) and Yale School of Medicine (M.D.), which is also her former employer, but no one ever responded.
Then friend and fellow alum Jay Freeland ’91 suggested she reach out to Union.
“Within a week, Roger Woolsey and Will Wright in the Career Center sent a job description to students and got a response from Cole,” said Ellen, who is a genetic counselor and founder and CEO of MyGeneCounsel. “My dad and I set up a short interview with Cole, and it was clear we had found a rock star.”
“I already knew that Union students and alumni are great,” she added. “But meeting Cole – and seeing how smart, talented and hardworking he is, and how kind he has been to my dad – has given me such confidence in Union, its students and our future.”
Ellen is also grateful to Randall for helping publish the memoir.
“This chronicle is more important than I can explain. This is a part of my dad’s life – his legacy – that now his children and grandchildren will have forever.”