Cathy - I admit, I hadn't tested just sending normal mail outside of OpenACS/.LRN. I guess I wasn't 100% sure "what" it was using as a mailer in the first place.
David - Sorry I didn't catch that thread before posting. It contains the solution, as well as Claudio's post. Thanks for your time, it's appreciated. I try and check before I post, but didn't see that one 🤔
Claudio - Thanks so much for your reply. That is exactly what the issue is/was. Once I changed it (and restarted AOLServer), it works great. I think I have almost all of my initial installation bugs worked out now for .LRN, this is a great system!
I have noticed that on the password reminder form when it asks for your name I could enter either the name for that account or the name of another account I had created (the initial admin one). Not sure if this behavior would work for any named user yet, but it's interesting...
Thanks again everyone.