Bill Dolan has missed his first day of work at the Appeal.
The mood was somber here when news arrived Thursday that Bill had died. He was a friend to many. Even those who did not know Bill personally knew of him and his contributions to this newspaper and community.
Bill began writing "Past Pages" in 1947. A story in 2005 reported that he never missed a day of work, and he continued to faithfully meet deadlines long after his peers had retired.
His work continued to be one of the first things readers looked for in the Appeal, as he summarized stories big and small from years ago in his daily feature. Through his thousands of hours of research at the Nevada State Library, we learned how much our community has changed - and how much we have stayed the same.
A native Nevadan and 1950 University of Nevada, Reno journalism graduate, he was inducted into the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1998.
Bill was a true journalist and a true Nevadan. We'll miss him.
But, like the history to which he dedicated his life, he will never be forgotten.