2012 Hobo Guide
8 June 7, 2012
News-Tribune
RANDY FROM P7 “We were so happy to have him,” said Jewell, who has attended the hobo conventions every year since 1980. “He was so nice, so cordial, so sweet. He had a mischievous laugh and wore his hat sideways. With his beard, he looked like Gabby Hayes.” When she got the news that Randy had been killed, “I was horrified,” she said. “Everyone was just stunned and shocked.” At a local hobo party, given at her Minneapolis home in October in honor of the 2011 king and queen, Jewell displayed photos of Randy. Randy’s brother, Tim Nomeland, who lives in Minneapolis, attended the party. Jewell’s husband, Darrel “Tuck” Ray, a former Hobo King, made a gravestone for Randy’s grave at Britt. In hobo language, Randy and two other hobos who died that year — Iowa Blackie and Road Hog USA — were “catching the Westbound,” Jewell said. Their photos were displayed in the hobo jungle, a ceremony was held and the hobos shared stories about their departed friends. Tim Nomeland attended the ceremony. Randy was a good storyteller and could always be counted on to help out, even without being asked, said
Jewell. He had gone early to the National Hobo Convention to help clean the picnic area and restrooms in the hobo jungle. He was planning to run for hobo king that year. Randy also used to ride his bicycle across Minneapolis to attend Jewell and Tuck’s hobo parties held twice a year at their home. “He was a big flirt with all the women, young or old,” said Jewell. “It made women feel special.” She last saw Randy at the hobo party held at her home in April 2011. “He said, ‘I’ll see you down in Britt in a couple months,’” she recalled. Another friend, Connecticut Shorty, of Britt, also remembers Randy being a cheerful guy who had great stories to tell about the adventures he had riding his bicycle. “He loved the Hobo Convention once he had discovered it,” she said. Connecticut Shorty, whose given name is Betty Moylan, remembered eating dinner with Randy at a local tavern the night before he died. “He was telling the stories of things that had happened to him, how nice the people were to him when he
rode to Britt,” she said. “It took him several days to get here.” Frog, a hobo now living in Helena, Mont., knew Randy well, he said. “I last saw him in Britt the year before he died,” said Frog, whose given name is Gerard Fortin. He saw him at Jewell and Tuck’s hobo party in Minneapolis in October 2010 and again at their party in April 2011, said Frog. Frog also attended a funeral service for Randy held in Minneapolis. “Randy was just a fun person,” he said. “He had a smile on his face 24/7. He was a charmer. I don’t think he ever refused any type of food, especially if someone cooked it for him.” Riding his bicycle was Randy’s greatest love, Frog said. He had also enjoyed riding the freight trains, which he did from 1979 to 2001. Randy had raised a family prior to becoming a hobo, but did not often speak about it, Frog said. “We all just loved him so much it was a shock when he died. The overall reaction was devastation.” “We buried him at Britt. He would have liked that.”
The fourth annual convention of Tourist Union No. 63—more commonly known as the Hobo Convention— occurred on Aug. 22, 1900, in Britt. Britt celebrates this anniversary each year. The convention of Aug. 22, 1900, came about after much work on the part of Thos A. Way, T. A. Potter, and W. E. Bradford, three energetic men of Britt, who proposed to do something different to show the world that Britt was a lively little town capable of doing anything that larger cities could do. Other persons who had a big part in Britt’s Hobo Day of 1900 were B. C. Way of Mason City and Frank Morrow of Garner. Way and Potter had read in a Chicago paper that Tourist Union No. 63 had elected as officers Onion Cotton, of Danville, Ill., and Grand Head Pipe Charles F. For START, see p.14
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2012 Hobo Guide
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