AAC F A M I L Y A N D F R I E N D S » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » Remembering a ‘friend’ Randy was a bucket filler


know that God wants us to be bucket fillers, not bucket dippers?” I love the simple and elemental faith of a child. Randy was a bucket filler. And Randy was never a bucket dipper. His faith was strong, and we had many conversations about it. He


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loved Jesus. Any time you talked with Randy, you could tell in his countenance that there was a rock of steadiness deep within him. In the time I’ve known him — since Eddie Jones hired him at the Association of Arkansas Counties up until his last day on the job — I never, not one time, saw him anger. I never, not one time, saw him in a foul mood, and I never, not one time, saw him say one single, solitary mean-spirited word about someone else. Even in times where my missed deadline threatened to make the magazine late, he would calmly come in and gently remind me that he needed something. He filled up our collective buckets with these attributes, and gave me someone to admire. He was often my rock of steadiness. Since his death, I’ve been


approached by hundreds upon hundreds that knew Randy and all have repeated the same thing — they never saw him in a bad mood. And they never saw him in such a hurry that he couldn’t spend some time with them. Tese are rare traits, and I know only a handful of people in my life that I can say that about. He filled their buckets. Randy knew where he was comfortable. He was comfortable behind a camera or sitting behind his Apple computer writing and assembling the magazine. But I loved watching him stretch and do those things that went outside of his routine — he always handled them gracefully and in his own way. I’ll always remember last spring when we reversed roles at a meeting. Randy was in front of the audience speaking to them about how to deal with the press, and I had grabbed his camera to take pictures. It prob- ably took him weeks to get the settings on that camera back to where he liked them.


While I would have liked to have stood in one spot to get the pic-


tures, I did it the “Randy” way just to mess with him while he was in front of that crowd, walking from corner to corner and trying to be as obtrusive and distracting as possible. He handled it well, with a chuckle, and went about his presentation. In our office we are often lightheartedly ribbing one another, and


I reflect often on the many times Jeff Sikes, skilled in lawyerly and philosophical debate, playfully baiting Randy in their conversations to box him into a corner, be it whatever subject. Randy was a wise man and quickly developed the talent of long pauses while he thought about where he was about to be hemmed in. You could see his wheels


COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2012


for others, his constant striving for perfection, and his passion for hobbies.


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1,300 elected county officials, 15,000 county employees, hundreds of state officials and countless others have been touched by the stories and pictures in it. While we all have hobbies, few of us ever really submerge ourselves in them like Randy. He loved photography and motorcycling. He would climb anything to get that one perfect picture. Tere are footprints all over the top of our building and Cotham’s restaurant next door that will never be seen by others. And motorcycles — did he love them. It seemed such a polar opposite of the man I knew in the office. Just prior to his death, I saw a man come in our front door, covered in gloves and motorcycle gear with his helmet on. When the hat came off and it was Randy, I took pause and tried to


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reconcile the serenity of his personality with the tough-boy image of a motorcycle rider. Two of Randy’s favorite things in this world were motorcycles and God, and I find great comfort knowing that when he left this earth, he transitioned directly from one to the other. Randy Kemp was many things to many people. He was an editor, a


writer, a photographer, a boss, an employee, a co-worker, a motorcycle rider, a brother, a dad, a granddad, a husband. But every person who knew him has a common thread — to each of us, he was a friend. He was warm and loving and as we think of him in the future, I find solace in the fact that none of us can think of a bad memory that we have of Randy. Our memories of Randy will forever keep our buckets full.


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n August, we all lost a great friend in Randy Kemp. His role in our collective lives was so much bigger than publishing a magazine. When thinking of his impact on the world, I have to turn to one of my 9-year-old daughter’s sayings: “Dad, did you


spinning, the possible outcomes his answer would produce, and the no-win situation that Jeff had put him in. So he’d smile, look at Jeff and say, “I’m not going to an- swer that.” It would give us all a laugh. Tere are three things I will always


here are three things I will always remember about Randy: his love


remember about Randy: his love for others, his constant striving for perfection and his passion for hobbies. He was a great encourager, be it sending notes on the back of a picture to my wife Tonya when she broke her ankle, or cards to each of us in the office that lifted our spirits during troubled times. He would pray with some of us at times we needed strength, and celebrate with us when things went well. His door stayed open, and his empathy was never hidden. He constantly tried to improve. Te County Lines magazine was his baby, and in three short years, he brought it from an average production to what I consider to be one of the best county associa- tion publications. His attention to detail was combined with great incorporation of artistic flair — it was something he took great pride in. It has been a rallying point for the counties across Arkansas, and


Chris Villines AAC


Executive Director


Director’s take


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