Russ Ringsak, a former architect who became the longtime truck driver for Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” public radio variety show, died Tuesday at his home in Stillwater, Minnesota, his wife, Denise Ringsak, told Keillor’s Prairie Home Productions. He was 81.

Ringsak met Keillor in 1971, when he joined a softball team sponsored by Keillor’s old morning radio show. He became the full-time “Prairie Home” truck driver in 1991, hauling the show’s equipment. He also contributed “Letters From the Truck Driver” to the show and occasionally played onstage. — AP