By By JOHN EBY / Cassopolis Vigilant
CASSOPOLIS – Minority Coalition, sponsor of Sunday's fifth annual International Festival at Sam Adams Elementary School, paid tribute to two community-minded individuals, Greg Price and Elsie Randles.
Coalition member Rita Reed, who made the award presentations, said Randles, of Vandalia, is originally from Mississippi. She initially came to South Bend, Ind., and married Thomas in 1996. Between the two of them, they have six children, 18 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Elsie enjoys cooking and singing at her church, Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in South Bend, Ind.
"She also enjoys traveling," Reed said. "She and her husband host an annual bus trip, on which they have traveled to 30 states. She loves to entertain and has a yearly cookout for attendees of the bus trip.
"She's a homemaker, but for 19 years she worked at Robertson's," a department store in South Bend, "and at Mr. Leonard's Furrier for 12 years. Elsie worked at the COA (Council on Aging) here in Cassopolis at the front desk and she also served as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children for five years here in Cass County," Reed related.
Randles this year organized the Juneteenth celebration, "which was a huge success. Also, she has hosted for more than five years the Gospelfest of Cassopolis.
"I want to thank her in recognition of her contributions in promoting racial harmony to the citizens of Cass County," Reed said.
Price was born in Chicago in 1950. He moved to Cass County in 1957 and graduated from Cassopolis High School in 1968. He has been married 26 years and has four children – two sons and two daughters.
Three of his four children have served in the armed forces. His fourth, a daughter, works for an attorney in Cass County.
Price performs with the FBI, a blues band which played a benefit for Genesis House.
Price was a police officer from 1971 to 2000, then started his career as a bail bondsman.
"He began to see the issues of displaced individuals and of many needs in his community," Reed said.
"Greg in 2004 started an agency that provides drug and alcohol testing. Greg currently chairs the Cass County Task Force on Family Violence. He has seen the need for programs to reduce abuse and crime in our county. He recently became certified to provide the Duluth model of batterers' intervention for males who use abuse as a means of control. He also is the president of the Genesis Project. Greg credits his passion for helping people to his mother and grandmother. He counts it an honor to serve the citizens of Cass County."