Randy Campbell, Vice President

Blue Sage Board of Directors

Randy Campbell grew up on a farm outside of the town of Lamar, in southwest Missouri, and has been serving on the Board since 2009.  Randy’s childhood on a Missouri farm, and term as President of the Paonia Rotary Club, have made him one tough fellow.  He claims he joined the Blue Sage Board because after all that, he thought the Blue Sage Board would be a piece of cake.  Boy, was he wrong.  Now he hangs on to his tough-guy past by randomly adhering to Tough-Guy Codes of Conduct, such as this one: “When the going gets tough, the tough crack stupid jokes.”

Why did the Board accept him?  Truth be told, Randy’s been on the Board so long, nobody seems to remember.  But it’s probably a combination of his ability to look at an issue from more than one perspective, his business-like approach to financial decisions, his prior experience as President of the Paonia Rotary Club, and his knowledge about building maintenance and repairs.

Randy’s favorite Blue Sage events are the literary events, such as Harvest of Voices and the Writer’s Anthology, and the Chamber Music concerts.  As the token tough-guy though, we should have expected this.  In 2020, Randy hopes to see the Blue Sage doing mostly what it’s doing now, but better (Editorial Note: “As if!”).  He would also like to see the Executive Director be paid a full-time salary, and for the buildings to be better maintained and fixed up (read: additional toilets).  As for activities in 2020, he hopes we will offer more artistic educational opportunities.

Outside of the Blue Sage, Randy does the “North Fork Shuffle” working at three different independent business activities to be able to continue living in this wonderful place.   He also likes to hike, ski, travel, read books and reflect upon how Paonia is the best place he’s ever lived, and how much he loves all of the people he has come to know here.  Tough-guy in Paonia or not, things get tough from time to time.  When that happens, this tough-guy tells us this joke:

“I was walking on the beach with my old friends Ben and Paul.  I said, ‘It’s windy, isn’t it?’ Ben said, ‘No, it isn’t Wednesday, it’s Thursday.’  Paul said, ‘I’m thirsty too, let’s go have a beer.’ “