We miss you Randy

This was published in the newspaper this morning. If only the internet version had the pictures that went with it.


Crash claims life of Randy Jones, popular N. Pole businessman
By Eric Lidji
elidji@newsminer.com
Published July 12, 2007


Randy Jones — devoted family man, expertly trained chef, man of the people and avid motorcycle enthusiast — died Tuesday night after a motorcycle accident at the intersection of University Avenue and the Johansen Expressway.

He was 64.

Jones became known around the Interior for two successful business ventures. In January 2000, he founded the Fairbanks computer store Two Geeks, now known as Geek City Electronics, and this spring he opened the distinctive Harley’s Diner MC in North Pole.

Jones died after a collision with his wife, Colleen, who had been riding on a motorcycle along side him. Colleen Jones is receiving treatment at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

The two were returning from dinner with friends.

Food and friends both played an important role in Jones’ life, his youngest son, Brad, said.

“He loved cooking anything and everything, as long as there were people to eat it,” Brad Jones said.

Born in Virginia and raised in Washington state, Randy Jones traveled around the country in his youth by nature of his military upbringing. He began a cooking career at 14, and over the following four decades became one of the last of a breed of students to complete a vigorous training and apprenticeship program that had him working under head chefs at four and five star hotels.

Randy came to Alaska in the 1970s to begin restaurant consulting work in Juneau and eventually opened Yancey Derringer’s, a popular restaurant along the wharf.

Randy and Colleen Jones married in December 1976 and had two boys, Brian, 28, and Brad, 25. The Joneses left the state in the mid-1980s, but returned to Alaska a decade later when Jones continued his restaurant consulting career in the Denali area.

Doctor’s orders to stay off his feet and a personal fascination with computers lead Jones in 2000 to start Two Geeks, named in anticipation of running the shop with Brad, who graduated from high school that year. Randy took classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to learn more about the computer world and envisioned the store as a locally owned business with a huge retail capacity.

“He wanted to show people that a computer store could be more than a little hole in the wall. That it could be a big venture,” Brad Jones said. “He always thought big.”

Jones grew up in a church family, but returned to the faith more fervently in adulthood, according to Darryl Carnley, pastor of the North Pole Worship Center where Jones attended services.

Jones would often call Carnley during the week to contemplate or discuss elements of the weekly sermon. Jones saw church as another avenue toward building community, Carnley said.

“Community to him meant that no matter what stage of life you’re in … you felt you were needed,” Carnley said. “Everyone had equal access.”

That attitude is what fueled Jones’ love of motorcycles, according to Thomas McGhee, who owns Cherokee Riders and taught Jones how to ride.

“Motorcycling is an uncommon world of camaraderie. Motorcycling brings people together on the street, in the world,” McGhee said. “That’s what Randy stood for; he stood for that brotherhood.”

Jones helped Enola Bowers and her husband, Robert, start the local chapter of the Christian Motorcyclists Association, the Arctic Servants No. 886, and frequently went on rides around the state wearing a black leather vest with a yellow cross patched over his heart.

“Randy was a lot of different personalities rolled into one big ball of human vitality,” Enola Bowers said. “He was the most successful entrepreneurial businessperson I ever met, and he was the brother who would give you the shirt off of his back.”

The Bowers spent part of the day on Wednesday designing a special patch to help fellow riders memorialize Jones.

Jones’ various passions united this spring with the opening of Harley’s Diner MC along the Richardson Highway.

The restaurant combines his love of food, friends and motorcycles, and showcases Jones’ meticulous attention to detail.

In addition to the shiny chrome exterior and checkered black and white floors, Jones spent six months combing through catalogues to find all of the accouterments that decorate the walls inside. Over the months spent planning the restaurant and its menu, Jones invited friends over for dinner parties where he presented test batches of meat loaf, beans and biscuits.

Jones’ friends and family said that in the few months the diner has been open, Jones could always be found sitting with customers, talking with friends and even inviting his competition over for a meal.