Vaya Con Dios...

Randy Peterson

Aug 28, 1948 – Mar 22, 2011

Though I did not know him as well as many in EVAC did, I got caught up in his infectious love of astronomy and considered him a good friend.  Many evenings we spent under the stars both at observing sites and at outreach events.  We viewed together, got caught in soccer field sprinklers together and generally had a really fine time.  I was very distressed when he got sick, and took it personally given the rough go he had with his career.  Somehow it didn't seem fair that someone who willingly gave his time to the public got short changed by life's events.  His attitude through both of these trying events was a bunch better than mine would have been, given the same circumstances.  When I last saw him out observing it really seemed that things were finally going his way.  If they weren't, he certainly did a fine job of not letting it get him down.

EVAC, the community and the world in general lost someone special today.  He's now one up on us, as he can now observe above that pesky atmosphere where the skies are truly clear.