Randy Limburg, big-hearted champion of Modesto’s homeless, has died. He was 63
A champion of Modesto’s homeless people has died.
Randy Limburg died Wednesday from complications of COVID-19 at Doctors Medical Center, according to two of his daughters. He had been in the hospital for about three weeks. He was 63.
Limburg had been been a homeless drug addict for more than a dozen years until he turned his life around. Daughters Mollee Limburg and Rachel Thomas said their dad had been clean for about 11 years.
He dedicated those years to helping others who struggle with addictions and life on the streets.
Limburg’s most recent work doing that was as an outreach specialist with the Modesto Police Department’s Community Health and Assistance Team. “Randy was incredibly proud of the work he was doing with the homeless and those in need,” according to a department post on Facebook.
“I can’t get his smile out of my mind,” said Christina Kenney, a CHAT outreach specialist who had known Limburg for more than a decade. “That smile was contagious. He had the ultimate rose-colored glasses. Everyone (he met) was a mother, a sister, a brother to him.”
Kenney said working with Limburg did not feel like they were doing outreach. It felt like they were visiting friends.
Helping conduct the annual point-in-time count of the homeless, Limberg was in Beard Brook Park in January 2017 and told The Bee, “These are all my friends. I’ve laid with them, ate with them, fought with them, loved some of them, lived with them. They all know me. I’m not better than a person in this park.”
Sgt. Mike Hammond oversees CHAT and had known Limburg for nearly a decade.
“Everybody knew and everybody loved him,” Hammond said, “because he met people where they were at. He never judged. But he’d say, ‘You are better than this, and when you are ready, we’re here to help you.’”
Limburg was huge, towering in height and ample in size. Kenney said he was a foodie and expressed his love through food. “He loved to eat,” she said, “and he loved to feed people.”
His daughters said Limburg loved concerts and all types of music, from blues and country to classic rock. “We even got him into rap music when we were teenagers,” Mollee Limburg said. “He’d listen to anything.”
‘Papa Randy’ to his grandkids
They said their father doted on his 11 grandchildren, who called him “Papa Randy.”
Besides Mollee Limburg and Rachel Thomas, his survivors include daughter Amanda Freeman, sons Michael Dodge and Randy Limburg and a sister, Jody Yarbrough.
Limburg was born March 11, 1958, in Modesto, according to a tribute to him on the website of Franklin & Downs Funeral Home.
Limburg’s visitation service is Feb. 14 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Franklin & Downs McHenry Chapel, 1050 McHenry Ave., Modesto. Everyone is welcome.
His funeral is Feb. 15 at noon at Big Valley Grace Community Church, 4040 Tully Road, Modesto, according to Franklin & Downs. His committal service at Lakewood Memorial Park, 900 Santa Fe Ave., Hughson, will follow.
Flowers are welcome, but people can honor Limburg by donating to The Salvation Army in Modesto. Donations can be made online at modestocitadel.salvationarmy.org/modesto_citadel_corps. Checks can be mailed to P.O. Box 1663, Modesto, CA, 95353.
Mollee Limburg and Rachel Thomas thanked the Police Department for its help. “They have gone above and beyond,” Mollee Limburg said.
The sisters said that includes Police Chief Brandon Gillespie giving their dad on Tuesday a department flag signed by the department’s employees. They said they will honor their dad’s wishes by placing the flag on his casket.
“He was just so happy for how far he came,” Rachel Thomas said.
Celebration at Graceada Park
The sisters said there will be a celebration of life for their father at the Graceada Park pavilion after his committal service. They expect it will start about 3:30 p.m, and they said the Modesto Police Officers Association will be barbecuing at the celebration.
The Bee profiled the CHAT outreach workers in November. One of their calls was to Davis Community Park, where a couple had spent the night in the women’s bathroom.
Limburg was shocked when the couple emerged from the bathroom and he recognized the man. It was 35-year-old Jarrod Switzer.
Limburg said Switzer had helped him get through rehab when the two were in it more than a dozen years ago. Limburg was enthusiastic as he talked about Switzer’s abilities, though Switzer said he was not yet ready to try to put down his addiction.
Later when Switzer showed the intricate, delicate roses he painstakingly fashioned from the scrap metal he found and the scissors and pliers he carried among his belongings, Limburg’s voice broke. “I’ll go the extra mile for you,” he said. “I love you. You could do something with this. You could teach kids to do this.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
