The Lord Needed A Good One
By Caps. David Kirk, District 8

And he got one on October, 19th, 2004!! Capt. Randall Reigh lost a two year battle with cancer in the early morning hours of this date at Stillwater Hospital. Myself and many other wardens spent a long vigil with Randall while he was slipping from us in the hospital. Randall's loss will be a source of pain for many years and I am having a hard time of even composing this small tribute.

Randall was a person who impacted all of the people that he met. A lot of people in Payne County wish that his impact wasn't as costly to them as it was but left that contact with a new found respect for this Warden. Randall started his career in January of 1976 in Payne County and his entire career was spent making a positive impact in law enforcement. He fought quite a few battles and they were all fought with the wish to improve things for the division and his wardens. We all thought that Randall was right when he took the floor and expressed his opinion. Was he loud, sometimes obnoxious, and opinionated?? Yes! Was he a good guy?? Yes!!

Shortly after he came to Payne County, I met him and we became close friends. I was very interested in becoming a Ranger and had taken the test once before. Randall's wife, Evonne and my wife Donna became close friends and we took vacations together and went out frequently. I got hired in 1978 and can surely say that if it were not for Randall's support and his prompting to keep trying that I probably would not have become a Game Ranger. Randall and I have stayed in close contact since. He had such a relationship with my family that he built an A frame cabin on my fathers' property on the Cimarron River East of Perkins. This cabin is quite an asset to the property and was used for many fish fries and District 5 events. He and his sons, Marshall and Riley used it for many hunting adventures.

I have lost a dear friend and brother with his passing. He and I were both born in May of 1950 and each had only one brother. We both were married in the summer of 1970 less than 15 days apart. We both married school teachers and had two sons. We both started as a warden, then Lieutenant, and then Captain. I suppose that this close correlation is what made us the friends that we were. We would always make sure that we would meet early for chief's meetings to talk about things and eat lunch. If an overnight stay was required, we always roomed together. We called one another usually weekly to discuss all of the world problems. When he got sick, I tried to call more often to check on him but I feel I didn't call enough. Randall was always upbeat and matter of fact about his cancer. I remember him eating greasy food and saying that a heart attack was the least of his worries. Throughout his whole battle he only worried about his family and how they would be taken care of. Every time I asked him how he was feeling, he would always say fine and I would call him a liar.

The amount of other friends were evident with the attendance at the services in Yale on Oct. 22. The church was filled with Wardens, friends, and other officers from around this state and others. This is a testament to the person that Randall was. He was respected by all that had met him and when he was your friend, you had a friend for life ...Randall Reigh was my friend!