Triubte to Janie & Rhett Stidham & the RKS

[Moosehead]

Hi all!

It's been almost seven months since Rhett Stidham passed away. First and foremost his loss is deeply felt by his devoted wife Janie, but he is also missed by all RMK lovers around the world.

Unfortunately Rhett's death resulted in the demise of the Randall Knife Society, which he founded and administered, aided and abetted by Janie. Thousands of RMK enthusiasts were members over a 21 year span and a wealth of knowledge was created in the quarterly RKS Newsletter that were mailed to members beginning in 1989.

I feel that this is an appropriate time to pay a tribute to Rhett and Janie, as well as the RKS for the wonderful contribution they made to Randall collectors all over the globe.

When I first became interested in RMK back in the fall of 2002, and even before I had ever seen a Randall "in the flesh", I accidently discovered the Randall Knife Society website via Google.

The photos of this amicable looking couple, encouraging folks to join, made the RKS seem like a natural place for collectors to share their passion and learn all about Randalls.

My very first Randall related purchase was a Zippo lighter adorned with the RKS logo on eBay.

After starting my Randall collection with a "Smithsonian" and soon after a "Trailblazer", I finally felt "qualified" to join the RKS, which I did in April 2003.

This was my first contact with Rhett and it was the beginning of my relationship with a man whom I came to respect very much.

I was fortunate to have met Rhett and Janie in Atlanta at the 2005 Blade show, and found them both to be very warm and friendly. I have fond memories of watching Rhett in action, examining knives with avid collectors at the RKS mixer. I also remember Rhett presiding over the annual RKS meeting, where it was obvious that he shared the enthusiasm for RMK that all of the members exuded.

Here are a couple of photos I took of Rhett and Janie at Blade:





I'll tell you more about the first photo later on in this tribute.


I've since enjoyed telephone conversations with Rhett in which his great sense of humour was always apparent.

I will always remember Rhett's down to earth good nature and will always be appreciative of his acceptance of me as just a fellow Randall enthusiast and a human being.



PART I

THE RKS NEWSLETTERS (1989-2010)




Issue #3 July 1989 and #88 December 2010 are the in foreground.



As you can see these newsletters stack up into quite a pile. I'm missing six of the total eighty-eight issues, including the first two and #'s 13, 32, 33 and 38.



The following photos will give you an idea of the extent of the Randall information covered.

by the newsletters:











Continued below in next post: