Janie Thompson
From College of Fine Arts and Communications
Contents |
Career
Janie Thompson earned her Bachelor of Arts in 1943 at BYU. After graduation, Thompson pursued a career in show business, performing with celebrities like Ike Carpenter and Tony Bennett.
In 1952, President Ernest L. Wilkinson called Thompson and asked her to come to BYU and create the Student Program Bureau which put on 2,463 shows within four years.
Thompson worked with the U.S. Defense Department and the Department of State, taking her students on tour throughout the world, and performing for service men and women.
By her retirement in 1984, Thompson had created six touring shows. Two of them -- the Young Ambassadors and Lamanite Generation (now Living Legends) still continue to tour, serving as ambassadors for the University.
In 2009, the film Janie Thompson: Performance of Faith, which honored Thompson for all of her contributions to BYU, premiered at the LDS Film Festival.
Church Service
In her early years, Thompson interurpted her career to serve a full-time LDS mission in Wales.
While working at BYU, she also served as a member of the general board of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association for the LDS Church.
External Links
- BYU Magazine - Stage Presence (Spring 2009)
- Mormon Times - Film features Young Ambassadors founder (23 Jan 2009)
- BYU Magazine: Singing Through Life
- BYU Magazine: Janie Thompson to Headline at Homecoming
References
- Winters, Charlene Renberg. "Janie Thompson to Headline at Homecoming." BYU Magazine. 1999. Brigham Young University. 26 Nov. 2007. <http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=208>.
