Barers Of Maple Valley Learns Of Loss

In the world of blogging, basically, free form journalism, nothing can be more satisfying that the approval from a member of the family of someone that you are writing about.  I was very fortunate to receive a comment from the son of former KLSY "Lights Out" host Randi Thomas.  It was very touching when I read that the comment was in past tense.  A Google search confirmed what I had feared, that Randi (above right) is gone.
Randi (her radio name), started about the same time that I did at KYYX, the early 80s.  We were board operators playing music for the Seattle on-air personalities, who taped their shows.  Randi also had an on air gig with KJUN, a country station out of Puyallup.  Over time, working the odd hours that encompass working in radio, we would go out for drinks usually with Rosemary Smith, another good friend.  With the burden of her other job, Randi would often call me to fill in for shifts that she was unable to or too exhausted to pull off.  She was a happy, outgoing girl with a deceivingly sharp sense of humor and an undying devotion to her craft.
Many years later, I crossed paths with a colleague who, by coincidence knew of her. He told me that she was working at KLSY, an adult contemporary station in Bellevue.  My friend Garry and I went over to the station and joined her for breakfast at The Keg.
My wife is an AC radio fan and when we were dating in the early 90s, we would listen to "Lights Out" on KLSY, which Randi was hosting at the time, she would play love songs and read listener dedications, I believe it was the show that earlier rocketed Delilah to radio fame.    I think my last contact with her was by e-mail sometime in the late 90s. I told her that I had gotten married and she e-mail the reply "you should have me dedicate a song to your wife". 
Randi, who actually left us in May of 2011, was dedicated to her craft and will be missed.