Linda Scarbrough and Clark Thurmond came to the Sun from two different pathways: journalism and aviation. Together they purchased the twice-weekly paper, founded in 1877, from Linda’s parents, Don and Clara Scarbrough, in 1986. Linda grew up in Georgetown, stuffing newspapers and proofreading livestock auction galleys and, in high school, writing her weekly column, “School Daze.” After college she covered science, medicine and the environment for The New York Daily News and freelanced in New York City. She returned home in 1978 to edit and ultimately co-publish the Sun with Clark. After a career in aviation, Clark joined the paper, first converting the paper from typewriters to computers and then managing and editing the Sun. Under their helm, the Sun promoted well-controlled development, preservation and enhancement of Georgetown’s Square and Old Town, and transparency in local government.

The Sun joined and encouraged Williamson County citizens as they worked to protect the natural beauty of our land, the San Gabriel River and its greenbelt, and to create a spectacular system of parks and trails in Williamson County. Through the Sun, Linda and Clark have supported academic excellence in our public schools, creating during a period of low school performance the Sun’s Exemplary Schools Campaign, a non-profit that ran an after school tutoring program for students who were falling behind. Before Clark and Linda took over, Don and Clara Scarbrough owned and operated the Sun from 1948 to 1986. Under their leadership, the Sun
worked to attract new industry, notably the Wesleyan Retirement Home; and in nearly a three-decade-long push, strongly supported building a dam on the San Gabriel River’s North Fork to control its deadly flooding, resulting in construction of North Fork Dam. The long-sought federally funded impoundment provided water to Georgetown and Round Rock to grow into the 21st Century.

     In 1973, after years of research, Clara published Land of Good Water: A Williamson County History, which the Texas State Historical Association named the best regional history of the year. Her work, sometimes called “the bible” of Williamson County history, provided a firm foundation for Georgetown citizens’ efforts to save the Courthouse Square and Old Town and polish them as shining jewels. In 2005, after receiving her PhD from The University of Texas at Austin in American Civilization, Linda published Road, River, and Ol’ Boy Politics: A Texas County’s Path from Farm to Supersuburb. It won the 2006 National Council on Public History’s Book Award for the best public history that year. In 2010 and 2014, Donna Scarbrough Josey, Don and Clara’s youngest daughter, researched and wrote two photographic histories of Georgetown: Images of America: Georgetown and Then & Now Georgetown. Kate Thurmond St. Clair, Clark and Linda’s daughter, has worked at the Sun in the circulation, production and editorial departments, reporting on philanthropic efforts, public events and county government. She has published several works of young adult fiction, most recently, The Ptolemy Project, the first book in a young adult science fiction series.