The 1805 Dispatches #22.04 August 2022 6 of 9 The Facebook announcement from The 1805 Club: "We are deeply saddened to announce the recent and sudden death of Mr RANDY BURDETT MAFIT, of Eugene, Oregon. Randy joined The 1805 Club as member number 6 early in February 1991. He and his wife Dana later took on the editorship of our modest newsletter and turned it into the fine magazine 'The Kedge Anchor', regarded by other senior organisations in the naval historical family as the model of its kind. They served in that vital function for 23 years. On retirement, they were appointed joint Vice Presidents, and it was our great pleasure to honour them with our first HOLD: a House Of Lords Dinner, on 14 February 2014, hosted by Admiral Lord West. Here is a photo of Randy (credit Club member Andrew W Barnett) on that very happy evening. A fuller appreciation of Randy will appear in due course on our website. This will be a collective creation, and contributions are invited from people who similarly valued Randy, whether members of The 1805 or not." From Richard Endsor: “In June 1986 I was enjoying some valuable time at home having just finished work as a contract aerospace engineer at Fokker’s in Holland. My wife and I went to Oxford for a day out and while she indulged herself shopping, I visited Sanders antique print shop in the High Street to browse through their collection of maritime prints. Inside, the young lady took me to the appropriate drawers but unfortunately for me a big guy, who looked to be in his late thirties was already sitting there. He looked round and up “Oh, I’m sorry, but you’re welcome to join me and we can go through the prints together”. I pulled up a chair and enjoyed his company and expertise for a good time. At length a nice-looking lady came in and Randy introduced me to Dana, his wife, who had also been shopping. Randy got up to go, and as they were obviously Americans I told them I would be living on Long Island from next month working at Grumman on the F14 Tomcat. I thought, perhaps we could meet up while I was there, not realising Oxford is almost as close to Long Island as their home in Oregon. And so a great friendship began, and as England had so many attractions for Dana and Randy they became regular visitors to our home. We visited many great houses although it was quite sobering to realise Randy knew more about their history than I did. We joined him in the 1805 Club and among other events enjoyed evenings at Newhouse, the 2005 Trafalgar anniversary in the Painted Hall at Greenwich and dinner aboard the Victory. One year, Randy visited us with another American 1805 Club member, Don Rosenberg and as a surprise I drove them to nearby Penn House. They didn’t know, but I had arranged the visit with the Earl Howe who greeted us at the main door: Randy’s face was a picture as we were shown around. Apart from seeing the memorabilia from Black Dick Howe, coffee and cake were served by the Countess Howe. Top: Dana and Randy at the HOLD. (Photo: Andrew Burnett) Centre: From the left, Frank Fox the noted naval historian from Birmingham, Alabama, Richard Endsor and Randy. (Frank tragically died only five weeks before Randy at the end of April this year). (Photo: Richard Endsor) Bottom: Randy and Richard Endsor visiting USS Old Missery at Pearl Harbour in 2006. (Photo: Richard Endsor) TRIBUTE TO RANDY MAFIT ▻
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