{"id":462103,"date":"2026-09-13T01:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462103\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T01:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:08:12","slug":"randy-mcfarland-valley-water-expert-and-historian-dies-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462103\/","title":{"rendered":"Randy McFarland, Valley water expert and historian, dies at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Action News often turned to Randy McFarland for his extensive knowledge of water challenges and conditions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KFSN logo\" class=\"awXxV NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl CfkUa EknAv NwgWd \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789261692_290_origin-kfsn.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Saturday, September 12, 2026 7:37PM<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) &#8212; A Valley water expert and historian has passed away, leaving loved ones and colleagues in mourning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Action News often turned to Randy McFarland for his extensive knowledge of water challenges and conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">His family also says you might know him as the &#8220;voice of Selma.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">His stepdaughter posted on social media that McFarland died Wednesday at the age of 78.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">She said he suffered from dementia, heart and kidney failure before his death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He was a leading voice for the Kings River Water Association, and colleagues said he will be missed for his contributions within the water community and his legacy of telling local stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Family says they plan to celebrate his life at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Easton on September 26.<br class=\" \"\/><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Action News often turned to Randy McFarland for his extensive knowledge of water challenges and conditions. Saturday, September&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[182119,706,339,112,114,113,182117,294,182118],"class_list":["post-462103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-182119","tag-central-california","tag-death","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-randy-mcfarland","tag-timely","tag-water-expert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}