A HOUSE FOR ALL SEASONS
Rand House 2.0 - Randy Smallwood

by Michelle Livingstone
(click images to enlarge)

Welcome to Rand House 2.0: the second installment of the famous and beloved home at 995 Bute Street, Halloween’s favourite West End haunt.

**RANDY SMALLWOOD Joking Around On Halloween.** *(PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE RANDS)*

Readers of this column may recall that in the last article about the Rand House, I mentioned that Laura Rand, the sister of the home’s original owner, Henry Town, and the wife of Edward E. Rand, was the first lady to grace the original build.

To add a little present spookiness, the current lady of the house is named Laurie, which also comes from the Latin root laurus, meaning ‘a symbol of victory and honour.’ Coincidence, synchronicity, spiritual goings-on?

If that piques your interest, how about Randy, of the Rand House? Aka Randy Smallwood, ex-CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals, and the other half of this high-flying duo. If anyone was meant to live here, it surely is this congenial, wonderful gentleman and his lady wife.

Born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, the eldest of three sons with generations of Canadian ancestry, his genealogy is, however, firmly European, with a mother from Iceland and a father of Norwegian, French, and English descent.

Randy's family moved to British Columbia when he was five.

“I had an incredible childhood,” he says. “We didn't have much money. We lived in a basement suite in East Vancouver until I was eight years old. Dad had a bunch of odd jobs; he delivered newspapers, he worked at an auction hall, and he did part-time work with the stock market.”

Enter 1971 and the Irish Sweepstakes, which ran from 1930 to 1987. Although illegal in Canada and a few other countries - until the government decided it wanted in on the scoop - it was deemed that if you won, you could keep your winnings.

Randy's father entered the contest and won $20,000 when his horse was drawn; a great prize indeed, but luck was loving him that day, and he won the overall race, collecting a staggering $190,000. He bought ten acres of land in Cloverdale for $10,000.

Randy reminisces about his father, a part-time employee at the auction house, walking into his boss's office and posing the question we would all dream to ask: "How much do you want to sell the business for?”

The price was right, and the company was sold to the Smallwoods, becoming a true family enterprise. His father was the auctioneer, whilst his mother ran the office and financials, and the three siblings worked on the floor. Sadly, Randy's younger brother Rich, who was going to continue the business, passed away from a heart attack in 2024, prompting his father to sell it.

Although Randy enjoyed a wonderful time working with his family and gained valuable life experience, he never wanted to join the business himself, and he spent a few restless years trying to find his own life's prize. And of that, he said:

“Chase your passions. Find your passion; never give up. I dropped out of computer science at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and I bounced around with odd jobs, but I loved the outdoors. I loved hiking. I had a four-wheel-drive pickup, and we used to go up to Gold Bridge, Braylorn, Pemberton, up past Worcester, Squamish River, Arison. Every weekend we'd go camping. A friend of mine said, ‘There's a company hiring claim stakers and labourers for an exploration project at the very north end of Duffy Lake, at the top of the mountain called the Hurley Silver Deposit.’ So I called them up, and they hired me. I took a back road up there and turned up in this camp. There's a bunch of grizzled geologists and prospectors, and they taught me how to stake a claim. I spent the day walking along this ridge and absolutely loved it.”

Ever the entrepreneur, no doubt after his father, Randy started his own business within six months, supplying labourers to help during mineral exploration.

It seemed he had found his footing at last, but a wise client cautioned him about mining's cyclical nature and advised him to rethink university. So, at 25, he rerouted his life again and earned a mine engineering diploma at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

At 27, he returned to the university he had previously run from and earned a degree in geological engineering, finishing in three and a half years instead of the allotted five.

Here comes 1994, and fresh out of University, Randy is hired as a graduate geologist for Wheaton River Minerals - the predecessor to Goldcorp and Wheaton Precious Metals - under the guidance of Ian Telfer, one of Vancouver's most impressive CEO mining kings, who also became a mentor and whom Randy cites as having a huge impact on his career and life.

Starting as an exploration geologist, Randy progressed to exploration manager, project manager, and mine manager, eventually becoming corporate development vice president and working alongside Ian.

Wheaton Precious Metals became the largest company in British Columbia.

“I'm proud of Wheaton Precious Metals and what the company stands for,” said Randy. “Nobody leaves; everyone retires eventually, but nobody ever leaves Wheaton. It's a company that cares; it gives back. We sponsor tons of things like the Sam Foundation and BC Parks Foundation; we just gave five million dollars to UBC for a dedicated economics school in the mining department. We gave two million to BCIT to rebuild their engineering area.”

DOING MORE WHILST RETIRING …

**Randy With One Of His Most Loved Art Pieces, ‘Beaver’ By Don Yeomans, A Haida/Métis Artist. He says, “I connect with it because the beaver always works for family and community.”**

Having finally hung up his CEO hard hat in March of this year, Randy says family is the best thing that has happened to him, and he's looking forward to spending more time with his beautiful wife and six grandchildren. “The intent is to decrease my workload and increase my play load,” he says.

Even though retirement will finally give him some respite, Randy isn't about to shirk his side duties. Along with 15 years on the Special Olympics board as vice chairman and vice chairman of Minerals Education, which supports resource education in elementary schools, he also sat on the BC Cancer board for six years and took part in many ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’ events with Wheaton. After stepping down recently, his partner in crime, Laurie, has taken up the mantle, leaving Randy open to accepting the presidency of the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) for 2027. CIM advocates for worker safety laws, advances in technical knowledge, and nurtures innovation and sustainable practices.

Randy said, “I've been incredibly fortunate, and I've got some experience and expertise that can probably help in certain situations.”

He is also a founding sponsor of the Foundry, a mental health program for ages 12 to 24, which began on Granville Street and now has over 30 venues across the province. He was vice chairman of the World Gold Council and is currently the non-executive chair of the board for Wheaton Precious Metals. In 2015, he was given the British Columbia Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award.

THE SINGAPORE FRECKLE …

However, all work and no play gave rise to the ‘Singapore Freckle.’ A small scar with a big story of a life-saving operation in which a stent was placed in his heart.

After several morning flights and back-to-back afternoon meetings, he believed his overt tiredness was due to jet lag and a punishing schedule. Straddling a multi-city travel regime, which saw him travel to London, Melbourne, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, and finally Singapore, Randy was feeling a lot less energetic than he thought he should and checked into the hospital, where they ran tests and discovered one of his arteries was 95 percent blocked.

“I couldn't believe how fast it was and how fortunate I was that I was in a country like Singapore that has an efficient health care system.”

Randy hadn't actually suffered a heart attack, and as such the enzyme that would usually flag a serious problem wasn't released. In Canada's health system, they might have waited. But someone was watching over him that day.

He tells me, “My doctor here says I would have been sent home because the first thing they do is test to see if you have a heart attack.” A situation that could well have proved fatal, and a stark reminder of his younger brother's untimely passing, spurring his decision to retire.

Although not at the same frenetic level, Randy foresees much travel and culture in his and Laurie’s future.

“I've got an incredible appetite for life. She equals that, if not more. She's not scared of anything; she'll dive in. My goal is to visit 100 countries. I also intend to bike all the way collectively from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. We've done two legs. We've done Warsaw and Gdansk, so we've touched the Baltic. And we've done the Mediterranean through Slovenia up to Austria. If I use the United Nations member states, I'm at 88 or 89 countries.”

I ask him where Vancouver ranks among the countries he's visited.

“It is beautiful, and I have travelled the world; but I have seen no other city like this in terms of the homelessness.”

Randy, like most people, would like to see a breakthrough on this contentious, ongoing issue.

“It is one of my local concerns. The fact is, we can't seem to find a viable solution. You can't force people. You shouldn't try to force people, but you should be able to create an attractive solution to at least put a roof over their heads, right? There's no reason we can't come up with better solutions. It is pretty soul-destroying for everyone else to see, so imagine what it's like for the people in the middle of that.”

A (G)RAND HOUSE …

Randy bought the Rand House in 2016, while he was still married to his first wife, but as their lives began drifting apart, she remained in Tsawwassen while Randy got comfortable in his new pad. Although much changed after Messrs. Duncan and Rowley, the previous owners who rescued the house from years of neglect, it still lacked something. It was longing for a laurus.

Randy recalls Laurie's first thoughts of the house at a poker game he held back in the day.

“She comes in and says, 'What a beautiful place... but... it looks like a flop house.”

**Randy And Laurie Spooking Out on Halloween.**

Which is interesting because, at one point in its history, that's exactly what it was. After her husband Edward's death, Laura Rand sold the home in 1925; the building was then converted into a rooming house. The rooflines were reconfigured, the famous turret removed, and a dubiously delightful coat of beer-bottle stucco (aka sparkle stucco) was applied to the exterior.

Happily, Laurie’s love for the house was swiftly followed by Laurie and Randy's love for each other, and the grandeur of a better time was restored.

“It used to be four suites; we combined the upper two suites into one bigger suite. The previous owners, Duncan and Rowley, were huge characters here in the West End. And to be honest, they take the credit for this place. We've definitely made some improvements, but they got it in 2008 and spent two years totally rebuilding the whole place.”

When he met with the selling realtor, he says he was told the house came with some obligations. Those being, keeping the community spirit alive and celebrating Halloween and Christmas with lights and laughter. For Randy, that seemed fair. When Laurie arrived, the tempo picked up, and they threw themselves into the festivities with glee and gusto.

Randy says: “I've never met anyone more passionate about Halloween than I am. Laurie’s taken the whole Halloween thing to a whole new level. Halloween is so short and intense; it's a night of joy. We get thousands of people. Typically over a thousand kids. I'll buy four to five thousand candies. And I hand two to three out, depending on how many kids you think you're gonna get - two to three candies per kid, right? We ran out last year.”

He enthuses: “Christmas is the same way. I actually hire a design crew to come and do the Christmas decorations. I want to respect the traditional heritage. I think Christmas has the overall benefit, because we keep the lights up for December and January. Those are the two darkest months, and it just spreads more joy and cheers people up.”

His eyes light up as he shares this sweet story. “In 2018. I had a guy come and knock on the door, and he said, ‘My girlfriend and I purposely walk up here to go past your house because we love it so much. I want to propose to her, and I'd love to do it on your patio.’”

Randy agreed, and so the porch, bedecked with a bunch of artificial snow - as you can never guarantee a Vancouver winter wonderland (see Winter Olympics 2010) - he knelt; she said ‘Yes’, and another love story for the fairytale house that was once lost to disinterest and beer bottles was born.

A ‘RAND’ FINALE …

The Rand House isn't only a fine example of a Queen Anne revival style building. It holds memories of a time when Vancouver wasn’t the built-up, high-rise mirror city it is now.

Shining like a true Christmas star (especially now that it finally has a new one), it is a veritable beacon in the West End, and the current proprietors certainly don’t take that for granted.

Not just a power couple in the business world who made something from nothing, they have poured their heart into the house that has so much history, once forgotten and forlorn, but now every year a reason for spreading delight amongst the neighbourhood and beyond.

No more ‘the flop house'; this giant gingerbread home will hopefully be around for many future generations, inviting the community to bask in its beauty every year. And Randy and Laurie, whose names uncannily nod back to the original owners from over a century ago, seem like the perfect fit to continue that tradition.

And as the spooky date looms, be part of it. Put on your best costume and revel in a piece of gorgeous history. Maybe the original Ms. Laura and Mr. Rand will be there to welcome you too. Just make sure you have an escape route or, at the very least, a candy to negotiate with.

NOTE: In case you missed it, you can read our August story about Laurie Rand here.