Aaron Johnson's display of a sizable collection of collateral ephemera and items associated with Randall Made Knives. Many of you already know Aaron is, for lack of a better term, the Shop Formans "sidekick and protege' at the Shop.

Wally
thanks for posting the photos, I hope to attend again in the future, I hope you guys all had a great time with friends and picked up some good stuff

Peter

Cookies! (Courtesy of Dr.Workmans daughter)
At the Saturday morning (8am) annual meeting of the Randall Knife Collectors Club. I have no exact figure on attendance, but a pretty good turnout. As always, Scott Maynard led us in prayer, there was news from the President (the good Capt), news from the shop, and an excellent presentation on the charity the RKCC has chosen to support.
Becky Caruso gave a great talk about the very humble beginnings and how it has so quickly grown, and I speak from personal experience when I tell you it's a great cause. When soldiers deploy to hostile areas, many do not have the benefits of living on a "Foward operating base". Often there are scouts, observers, intelligence gatherers, and a full gamut of jobs requiring them to be on their own, self sufficient without a roof, running water, and so many amenities we take for granted daily. This is the target group of soldiers this great program aims to support. In 2004 it was a very common occurrence for myself and 8-11 other men with me to operate "outside the wire" for up to 8 days at a time. The charity is called J.O.S.H (just our soldiers helpers) and I hope James and Becky will chime in with more details. They've already shipped hundreds (if not a thousand or so) boxes of basic need items, I would guess like toothbrushes, toothpaste, beek jerky, hand sanitizer, etc, etc. and I see this as something great to get behind. Postage is awful! Bo Randall was all about supporting the American fighting man and I'm sure we all are too!
As you can read in the newsletter, (if you don't have one, you will soon) a memorial fund raiser, supported by a raffle has been instituted to create a memorial fund in the name of Suzanne Lambert, to support the program J.O.S.H.
You can bet your bottom dollar Kenny Lambert loves his wife with every bit of his heart, and she is dearly missed by all who knew her. Recently other members have passed, Ed Giles, Cal Barnlund, Alvin Hightower, and a little further back, Randall giants like Perry Miller and Rhett Stidham. I apoligize in advance for anyone I've missed. This memorial will help keep the memory of our lost friends and family, while supporting brave men and women who put their lives on the line without question or reserve for the love of the soldier in the foxhole next to them and for freedom and the American way. No greater love!
There were also several drawings, everything from RKCC coffee cups to one lucky lady who took home a brand new Copper Companion! I even won an A.G. Russell knife that his company produced as gifts for all the Randall shop employees this past Christmas. (Am I an honorary employee now???)

Wally,
Thanks for the posting. I'm certain a great time was had by all! There was a great deal of knowledge and experience gathered there for sure.
Walker

Please re-read the above post, I've added a lot more details.

Good stuff Wally.
Thanks for posting.

Peter Kaufman... WE have missed seeing you these past few years.

Wally, great pictures and summary. The meeting was great! Jimmy Bedgood made an appearance and brought along a knife he made that was auctioned off.

Wally is pretty dead on about J.O.S.H. almost all of us are touched in 1 way or the other by service men and women.Kathys passion has long been to support them, WE share that passion. Thank you to Tom and the Maynards for your co contributions =]

Thanks Wally.
Walker

James,

Great seeing you all at Blade!

Becky did an outstanding job describing JOSH and all that gets done by Kathy, you both and your friends for our Service Men and Women.

Tom Flynn