Jarrett and Conrad were also part of an
iconic picture published in the paper. The
photo shows Jarrett, Conrad, Roger Tucker,
Rusty Paulson and Linda Hayden sitting on
motorcycles just outside The Sun office, 220
S. 18th.
Jarrett, Conrad, Tucker, Paulson and some-
times Gordon Nordquist would take weekend
rides together.
Conrad’s wife, Pattie, was the “inspiration”
behind him buying the motorcycle so they
could ride with friends Richard and Darlene
Siebert, he said.
Conrad said he and Pattie stopped riding af-
ter a bad accident in California. By then, they
had ridden more than 25,000 miles and trav-
eled through 11 states.
Paulson remembers some of the rides go-
ing for 200 miles.
“We had a good time doing that,” Paulson
said.
Conrad retired in late December 1999 and
moved to Florida three years later.
Composing
John Newell began as a linotype operator in
the composing department at the Sun in 1971.
Newell typed local content for the daily pa-
per on a 90-key linotype keyboard.
Newell took typing his junior year at Parsons
High School on the advice of his father, who
taught printing.
He embarked on a newspaper career that
took him to Stillwell, Paola, Dodge City, and
finally back home to Parsons. Newell was in
Dodge City working as a linotype operator in
1971 when the newspaper switched to offset
printing, which meant it may no longer need
linotype operators. There was an opening in
Parsons and linotype operators were hard to
find at the time, so Newell came home.
In 1972, The Sun switched to offset print-
ing. But Reed announced he would keep the
linotype operators in the change to cold type.
Someone still had to input all that content.
Newell knew the typewriter keyboard, which
differed from the linotype keyboard. So he
stepped in and typed content for The Sun’s
pages in the early days of switching to offset.
Reed said that Newell basically typed the
content for the entire paper for two weeks as
other operators learned or relearned the key-
board.
Newell’s speed and accuracy at the keyboard
were well known. He typed so fast on a lino-
type machine that the machine couldn’t keep
up.
“I could do what they call ‘hang the elevator,’
which means you continuously put that ma-
chine in a constant motion without stopping.”
Essentially, he was typing faster than the ma-
chine could form letters.
On a typewriter, Newell said he could type
100 words per minute with accuracy.
“He was so fast and so accurate. I mean I was
just in awe of him typesetting. He’s so good,”
former composing superintendent Rusty Paul-
son said.
Newell said he went through seven big
changes at The Sun. Linotype to offset was the
first. He later became classifieds manager. He
retired in July 2005, four years after he wanted.
The days in the composing department were
fun.
“We could say things. We were very free back
there, but no one ever took anybody serious-
ly,” Newell said. “That’s what made it fun. We
could pop off and say something to somebody.
We would do it out of fun.”
Newell said he enjoyed the career.
“I was wanting a job where I could leave my
work at the workplace and not bring it home
and not have to worry about it,” he said.
Paulson recently retired from a job in the
Kansas City area. He too has fond memories
of working at The Sun. He had Route 14 as a
paper boy when he was young and worked in
the mailroom in high school. He returned to
the Sun after college in 1978 in the composing
department and became superintendent. He
left in 1992.
“I put a lot of time in at that newspaper over
the years. Of all the jobs I had, that was my
favorite,” Paulson said.
He said it was an honor working with the
longtime employees Clyde Reed, Jim Davis,
Kent Cunningham and Martin Thomas. He re-
members Thomas telling a story about outlaws
Bonnie and Clyde eating at a diner in Parsons
in the 1930s.
Paulson echoed Newell’s statements about
the atmosphere in composing and the press-
room.
“We had a good time,” Paulson said.
Publisher
Ann K. Charles worked for The Sun from
1981 to 2007. She was ad director for a time
and became editor and publisher in 1990, a
position she held for 17 years.
When she began, there wasn’t a computer
in the building. Business records were kept
by hand. The first computer at The Sun was
in 1984 with a graphical user interface and a
Labette County Community Guide • 2021
Clyde M. Reed Jr.
Clyde M. Reed Jr. became editor of
The Sun in 1942 and editor and pub-
lisher in 1949. In 1953, he bought The
Sun in 1953 from his family, which had
owned the paper since 1914, and the
Combs family. He ran the newspaper
until 1982, when he stepped down af-
ter Harris Enterprises took over.
Reed was a stickler for accuracy
in the printed product and would
critique each issue, staffers said. He
was involved in the community and
that involvement helped The Sun
cover the community and its read-
ership area.
He died in January 1993 in Law-
rence. Part of his legacy was provid-
ing money to The Sun to renovate
its offices and update its computer
systems. He also has a larger legacy
statewide for journalists. The Kansas
Press Association created the Clyde
M. Reed Jr. Master Editor Award, fund-
ed by Reed’s widow Betty Reed, to
honor outstanding editors in Kansas.
Recipients receive a bronze statue
of Reed pulling a paper off the press
with is tie flying. Richard Bergen, the
sculptor of Ad Astra, which sits on top
of the Statehouse in Topeka, sculpted
and cast the Reed statue.
In October 1994, Reed was elected
posthumously by members of the
Quarter Century Club, who had been
Kansas newspaper journalists for 25
years or more, into the Kansas News-
paper Hall of Fame. Reed was known
for his editorial stances at the Sun as
well as for his political activities. In lat-
er years Reed taught at the University
of Kansas and was a longtime bene-
factor to the university and a booster
of education. He served as chairman
of the Kansas Board of Regents, the
governing body of the state’s public
universities, and was a 1937 KU grad-
uate. When the Katy Railroad decided
to close operations in Parsons, elimi-
nating 1,300 jobs, Reed summoned a
district judge from his bed and per-
suaded him to issue an injunction
preventing the railroad from leaving
town. Reed also interceded when the
federal government proposed the
transfer of an ammunition plant from
Parsons. He helped persuade federal
officials to leave the plant in Parsons,
according to Sun archives.
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