Farewell to a friend

Randy Gene Owens, 48, died Nov. 18, 2008

Jim and Randy met when they were 11. They quickly became friends and enjoyed their time together in school, scouts, and church. They always found a reason to go camping and exploring. Jim has a lot of crazy stories about their times together. Like their trip to Wendover going 100 mph in a blizzard, their trips to Vernal, and cutting down Christmas trees in snow up to his bellybutton.

As they got older and married they kept in touch. We tried to go see Randy and his family every time we were in Utah. When we moved to Utah in 2002 it didn't take long for them to get together for lunch and to catch up. Shortly after their lunch Randy was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease, or ALS). Despite his grim prognosis Randy was positive and always had a smile. He even invited us to stay at his house that week when we were thinking of coming up to another mutual friends funeral.

We left for Utah Thursday and were able to attend his funeral in Hooper Ut on Friday morning and his burial in Panguitch Ut on Saturday afternoon.