Interview by Gainesville High School senior and Abernathy Cochran intern John Jessup
Meet Randy Jessup! Randy is a CPA and partner at Bates Carter and has lived in Gainesville his entire life; graduated from Gainesville High and the University of Georgia. He is married to Amy and the father to Ben (19) John (17) and Elizabeth (15).
We want to thank Randy for spending time with us recently and telling us more about his life and love of Hall County.
Question: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
A: “I’m married to Amy and we’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. She’s a part-time pharmacist and full-time mother and wife. We have three children, Ben, who’s a sophomore at UGA; John, who’s a senior at Gainesville High School and Elizabeth, who’s a freshman at Gainesville High School. And we’ve lived in Gainesville most of our adult life.”
Q: Please tell us about your current career. What do you love most about what you do?
A: “I’m a tax partner at Bates Carter CPA Firm. I’ve been here for 22 years and have been a partner since 2008. What I enjoy most about my career is dealing with smart and successful business people and clients and helping them plan and minimize their taxes.”
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
A: “Poor Richard’s, I like the shrimp and grits there. I’m also a meat and veggies guy so I love Longstreet, too.”
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
A: “I grew up here and moved back here in the year 2000 and started at Bates Carter that year.”
Q: Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
A: “Abit Massey. He is a very influential person in the state of Georgia, but has a way of making everybody else feel very important. He has an amazing memory and recall of names and people.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “I have never been to the national parks out West. So I would say like Yellowstone and Grand Teton and Glacier National Parks.”
Q: What’s one of your favorite movies or TV shows?
A: “’Saving Private Ryan’ is my favorite movie. And let’s say ‘Seinfeld’ is my favorite TV show.”
Q: What advice would you give to people?
A: “I would say be patient. It all doesn’t have to happen right now for you, work hard and make good decisions, but be patient.”
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
A: “Probably the Cake Box. It was half bakery and half breakfast shop. It’s where The Honey Baked Ham Company is now on Thompson Bridge Road, but my dad would take us there every Friday morning and we would eat breakfast and get a donut from there.”
Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative with whom would you love to have lunch with and why? Where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
A: “ Probably Tiger Woods. He’s a complex guy but he also has a drive for perfection that would be really interesting to talk to him about. And I would take him to the Chattahoochee Grill and take him out to the golf course.”
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community and secondly, what is something you hope our community has or does in the future?
A: “I think the fact that we have so much opportunity, so many strong businesses, yet still retain a very defined sense of community. It’s kind of the best of a small town, but with some larger town opportunities. One thing I have always said is I would love to see an outdoor amphitheater on the lake.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in five to 10 years?
A: “I think we will be empty nesters by then, but I think I’ll be doing a lot of the same things I’m doing now. I’ll still be working with businesses and clients and be involved in my kids’ life. It’ll be in a different way, but I don’t see a huge change for me in five to 10 years.”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “Probably to visit some of the World War II sites in Europe.”
Q: What is something you’ve been proud to check off your bucket list?
A: “I think the trip we took to the Rose Bowl and Disneyland and toured L.A. and when we went out to see Georgia in the playoff a couple years ago.”
Q: What’s your favorite band or musical artist when you can’t decide what to listen to?
A: “Chris Stapleton is probably my favorite. I like some of the older country music like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. I also like The Allman Brothers Band.”
Q: In hard times we can sometimes see and recognize greatness in those around us, hardworking, positive attitudes, helping on the front lines, who is one of our local shining lights today?
A: “I do think about all that the teachers have been through these last couple of years. I can’t imagine all they’ve been through and how to keep going forward. I don’t know if I can name one, but I certainly admire the grit that teachers have shown over the last several years.”
Q: What is the most beautiful place you’ve ever been?
A: “The coast of Maine.”
Q: What’s your favorite month or holiday?
A: “ October is my favorite month. We’ve got cooler weather, changing leaves, college football, baseball playoffs. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I just love spending time with family without some of the stress that goes along with other holidays.”
Q: What would you rate 10 out of 10?
A: “A Jaemor strawberry ice cream.”
Q: Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?
A: “That’s a hard one, but I’d say Paul Rudd.”
Q: What are one or two of your favorite smells?
A: “A fresh Christmas tree and the smell of a golf course early in the morning with cut grass.”
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
A: “My mother. She passed away about three years ago, but she was always a doer. She didn’t wait around for people to tell her what needed to be done. She stepped in and did it and was just always very selfless and, and thinking of others and the older I get, the more I realize how rare that is.”
