Sunday, Sept. 19, 2004 | 8:14 a.m.
In addition to Publisher Barbara Greenspun, two longtime Las Vegas Sun employees were inducted into Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The late Sandy Thompson, vice president and associate editor, and Bryn Armstrong, former Sun executive editor, joined the prestigious hall of people "who have made significant contributions" to print journalism in Nevada.
Thompson, who died in a traffic accident in August 2002, "championed children's rights in stories and a weekly column that led to changes in the Family Court system," the association said in a statement at a dinner at the Orleans.
Past president of the association, Thompson was the Sun's managing editor for 11 years before becoming vice president, in which capacity she wrote a column and acted as a liaison between the Sun and the many community groups it helps.
She joined the Sun in 1970 as a copy editor and served as features editor before becoming managing editor.
Thompson was the recipient of several press association Better Newspaper Contest awards, including Story of the Year in 1997.
In her role as vice president, Thompson was deeply involved in many community groups, including Rebuilding Together with Christmas in April, a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates homes of low-income people; Clark County Mother of the Year Awards; CLASS! Publications, a nonprofit monthly newspaper written by, for and about Clark County students; and Raising Nevada, a statewide initiative to encourage the development of positive assets in young people.
She was coordinator of the Sun Youth Forum, an annual event where more than 900 local high school students gather to discuss and debate issues of the day. The forum was begun in 1955 by the late Sun publisher and founder Hank Greenspun as a way for students to be heard.
She also was coordinator and a board member of the Sun Summer Camp Fund, which raises money to send disadvantaged youth to various summer camps.
Armstrong joined the Sun in 1963 after working at the Reno Evening Gazette as assistant managing editor. He was managing editor in 1963 when the Sun plant was destroyed by fire, just two days before President John F. Kennedy was shot. Armstrong was proud that the Sun did not miss an edition despite the disaster, according to the letter that nominated him for the Hall of Fame.
He was president of the press association in 1972 and 1973, as well as winner of several association awards, including best local column in 1959, best news and best feature stories in 1961 and best editorial in 1964.
He retired from the newspaper business in 1977, having spent more than half of his life in the industry.
He was appointed by then-Gov. Mike O'Callaghan as chairman of the first full-time parole board in the state in 1977, and reappointed to the post by Govs. Robert List, Richard Bryan and Bob Miller. He also served as executive secretary of the Nevada Dairy Commission from 1993 to 1996, retiring after suffering a stroke at the age of 80.
He also is past president of the Las Vegas Press Club and the Northern Nevada Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, the national journalism fraternity; and is listed in "Who's Who in the West."
Other legendary Sun journalists in the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame are Hank Greenspun; O'Callaghan, who was executive editor of the Sun from 1979, after leaving the governor's mansion, until his death March 5; the late Ruthe Deskin, assistant to the publisher of the Sun for 50 years; and Cy Ryan, the Sun's capital bureau correspondent.
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