Posted by:
loislane
(
)
Date: March 21, 2022 05:38PM
Okay. I will try to share a memory of Randy. The memory is clear, but I am not real organized, so what follows may be a bit scattered.
I contacted SL Cabbee, because I knew he was a cab driver in SLC with an interest in Mormonism and there were a few places I wanted him to drive me to, and maybe we could visit with each other along the way.
Among other things, I wanted him to drive me to the house where Author Annalee Skarin claims she was translated. (Lori Vallow was not the first Mormon lady to get herself translated.) I would like to go into that story in another thread, but this thread is about Randy.
As we exchanged e-mails it became clear that Randy was very proud of his friendship with Will Bagley. It was Will this, Will that, and on and on. He wanted me and him and Will to have lunch together at Lamb's Grill. That sounded cool. He also wanted me to buy Will's book "Blood of the Prophets," so will could autograph it, so I got on Amazon and ordered me the cheapest one.
When the book came, I saw it was an ex-library book, and did not want to ask Will to autograph it, but Randy insisted. I was so rattled that I left the book on the hood of Randy's car as I fished around in my purse for parking meter money, but when I discovered what I had done, Randy ran to the cab to get it. This was his big moment, I guess his huge gift to me. Will Bagley autographing a book just for me.
We walked to Will's small cramped office, crammed full of books. Will Bagley himself was small and frail looking, but he looked right at home in that office amid the piles of books. It seemed a shame to pull him out of that office where he seemed so at home (I don't think it had any windows) but we were there to take him to lunch, so off we went to Lamb's Grill.
Randy led the way, which was a Good Thing, since downtown sure had changed since I was a denizen of SLC. Twisting, turning, thru newly built pathways, and then, there we were -- Lamb's Grill!
Will, was friendly and affable and a good conversationalist and so was Randy. I tried hard to keep up. I remembered Lamb's Grill from my youth, and I thought it had closed years ago, but it hadn't.
So it was a lively conversation. I don't know who was trying to impress whom, but I think we all impressed each other. My area of expertise in Things Mormon was the Dream Mine and the Hole in the Rock expedition, so the gentlemen accommodated themselves to those topics and a good time was had by all. Of course, the food was delicious.
I remember Will looked very frail, and he was very careful about what he ate. I think he had diabetes. I wished I had paid more attention, because now I have diabetes, and now I am turning into a frail old lady who must be very careful about what she eats. No fun.
I don't remember what we did next but we didn't drive to any of the addresses where I wanted to go. I think we went straight to the Lighthouse Bookstore, where the personnel there seemed to know Randy very well. I bought lots of books, Randy visited with the staff.
I will say this for Randy: He was able to deep-dive into the heart of a complete stranger. I couldn't believe the things I was telling him about myself. He, likewise, revealed everything about his past, his personal romantic life, his family -- everything. We were connecting very deeply very quickly. It was a bit unnerving. All I wanted to do was book a tour and we weren't touring, but boy were we talking.
Anyway, I looked him up whenever I went to SLC, which I don't go there very often. Randy looked worse and worse. Very tired, very frail looking, very shabbily dressed. I remember on one occasion his shoes weren't even tied. I kept wanting to rescue him, take him home, make him take a bath, but him new clothes, buy him the kind of shoes that didn't have laces.
But despite all that, anyone who spent ten minutes with him could see that he was intelligent, intuitive, insightful, you name it. I really enjoyed his company.
And he will be missed.
P.S. Lamb's Grill really is closed now so carpe diem everyone. Grab those unique experiences while you can. Janis Joplins said that, didn't she? Only she didn't say Carpe Diem, she said "Get it while you can," which amounts to the same thing.