SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – It's said that in small rural towns, everyone knows everyone. But Randy E. Scott was known well beyond the borders of tiny Hardwick, Minn.
"I heard Randy described as the pillar of the community. I think I would more accurately define him as the most prominent name in the community," said the Rev. Mark Mumme.
Scott, 55, was killed Saturday when the Harley-Davidson motorcycle he was riding collided with a car driven by South Dakota Rep. Bill Janklow (search) near Trent, about 25 miles northwest of Hardwick.
His funeral was scheduled for Wednesday morning in Hardwick, population 222.
"Randy was a man who knew everyone," Mumme said. "He knew the rich and poor, the prominent and the no names."
Preliminary reports indicate Janklow, 63, failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection, according to the prosecutor. No criminal charges have been filed.
It seemed like Scott knew someone wherever he went or would make it a point to meet someone, said friend Don Bryan of Hardwick.
"I would go with him to Sioux Falls (search) or Sioux City (Iowa) and he'd walk into a room and some guy would come up and know him," Bryan said.
It was hard not to notice him — Scott was about 6-foot-6, Bryan said.
"He had an outgoing personality. He was just ultra friendly," Bryan said.
Scott had just purchased the motorcycle in the spring. He and another man were on a Saturday ride that included attending a birthday party for his ex-father-in-law, Bryan said.
Scott, whose father named him for the cowboy actor Randolph Scott, lived on the farm his grandfather started in 1907.
He was a 20-year member of the Hardwick Volunteer Fire Department, serving as both chief and assistant chief, and was a past commander of the local American Legion (search) post.
Following a private church service Wednesday, Scott was to be buried in nearby Luverne, Minn., where he was born and attended high school.
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