Mable Randall, 83, teacher in South Jersey and Phila.

Mable V. Randall, retired schoolteacher and mother figure to many, was a board member of the Elliott G. Heard Jr. Memorial Fund in Wenonah, from 1992 until it closed in 2013.

The fund provided scholarships for students in law schools and Ms. Randall was its public relations representative from 1993 to 2012.

Heard was the first African American lawyer in Gloucester County and, in 1984, the first black person to earn a gubernatorial appointment to be a judge in that county. His 1991 Inquirer obituary stated that he "presided over the family court division and earned a reputation as a hardworking and compassionate jurist."

Ms. Randall became a Heard Fund member because she and Elliott Heard "were personal friends," and his wife, F. Anita Heard, "asked her to be a member of the board," Andrea Alston-Brundage, a niece of Ms. Randall, said in a phone interview.

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, Ms. Randall, 83, of Cherry Hill, who retired in 1990 after a career as a public schoolteacher in South Jersey and Philadelphia, died at Cooper University Hospital in Camden after a fall at home.

Known as Virginia, Ms. Randall was born in Gloucester in Gloucester County, Va., and graduated from Glassboro High School in 1949.

She earned a bachelor's in education at what is now Rowan University, a master's in counseling at Temple University, and completed course work short of a doctorate at Temple.

Ms. Randall taught at public schools in Elk Township, Gloucester County, and in Bridgeton before beginning a 32-year career with the Philadelphia School District.

She retired as a counselor at the Albert M. Greenfield School at 22d and Chestnut Streets in Center City.

Since they met 27 years ago, she had been a close friend of Linda Jones Hicks-Dixon, a West Deptford pediatrician.

Two weeks after Hicks-Dixon's mother, Martha Jones died, she took her young daughter, Mikal, to the Cherry Hill Mall.

Seeing Ms. Randall, Mikal "just climbed onto her lap, thinking it was her grandmother."

Rather than being put off, Ms. Randall "sat there with us for hours, just sharing, talking."

Ms. Randall's birthday was March 13 and "my mother's birthday is March 10. It's like she was a replacement for the loss of my mom."

Apart from her medical duties, Hicks-Dixon is pastor of the Sword of the Word Ministries in Cherry Hill, where Ms. Randall was known as Mother Virginia.

Though, Hicks-Dixon said, "she never had children herself, there are so many that she has nurtured and encouraged throughout the years."

A member of the First Baptist Church in Glassboro, Ms. Randall was director of its youth department in the 1950s, her niece said.

She was a soprano with the Glassboro Gospel Chorus in the 1950s and 1960s and, more recently, with the choir of Grace Temple Baptist Church in Lawnside.

And, her niece said, "around Christmas for many years," Ms. Randall was a member of the Hallelujah Chorus at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

Ms. Randall was a member of the Gloucester County chapter of the NAACP and of the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association.

She was a member of the Theta Pi Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and, in the 1950s, led a Girl Scout troop in Glassboro.

Besides her niece, Ms. Randall is survived by a brother and three sisters.

A viewing was set from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at Grace Temple Baptist Church, 15 E. Charleston Ave., Lawnside, before an 11 a.m. funeral there, with interment in Gates of Heaven Cemetery, 165 Mantua Rd., Mount Royal, N.J.

Donations may be sent to the Youth Department, First Baptist Church, 103 Grove St., Glassboro, N.J. 08028.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mayfuneralhomes.com.

610-313-8134@WNaedele