Transcript of interview with Judith Ann Allaire by Tracye Ann Collins, March 10, 1980

UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 1 Interview with Judith Ann Allaire An Oral History Conducted by Tracye Ann Collins Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 2 The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 3 Abstract Tracye Ann Collins interviews teacher Judith Ann Allaire in her classroom at Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Allaire was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 24th, 1944, and relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1955. This interview covers education, growing up in Las Vegas, and politics in Nevada. Allaire also discusses the various job titles she has held, such as medical social worker, secretary, cocktail waitress, drug counselor, dancer, and teacher, in Las Vegas, Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 4 My informant is Judith Ann Allaire. The date is March 10th, 1980. The place is Valley High School, which is located at 2839 South Burnham. My name is Tracye Ann Collins. I reside at 3390 Cambridge Street. The project is Local History Project II, Oral Interview—Life of a Las Vegas Old Timer. The time is now, it’s 2:59. Now where were you born? Chicago, Illinois. Generally, what kind of neighborhood was it? A very poor neighborhood. And was there any integration of primarily one class? No. We were all poor. (Laughs) (Laughs) No. I mean, I mean, you know. Was it just all white? All black? Yes. It was all white. All white? Okay. Were you involved in any youth organizations? No. My mother had the good sense to send me cross town to a parochial school. I didn’t go to school in the area. Why not? There were no youth organizations (laughs) in the area, unless you count gangs. So, I was very involved with church organizations of the school, to which I attended. When did your parents decide to move to Nevada? 1955. Any reason? Any special reason? My father and mother had been separated since my birth and my father was here and decided that we should all be a family again. So, he asked my mother and I to join him, here. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 5 Okay. Where was your mother born? Wisconsin. Beloit, I believe. Wisconsin. And your father? Lodz, Poland. Did he ever—where’d your parents meet? They met in Chicago, during World War II, Camp Grant. Oh. For how long were they married? (Laughs) A very brief time, I don’t think it even mattered. (Laughs) (Laughs) Less than a year. You have any other brothers and sisters? No. No? Only kid? Right. What’s your nationality? Polish. Polish-American. Were your parents ever ridiculed because of their—your father, was he ever ridiculed because he was an immigrant? Yes, very much so. When he came here, he spoke no English. So, he couldn’t get a job, obviously. And he finally went to work in New York as a longshoreman. But he had a lot of trouble until he learned English. He subsequently got a very good education, and ended his life with a Ph.D. in History. In History? When you moved out to Vegas, what schools did you attend? UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 6 I went to Paradise Elementary School, and then Las Vegas High School. The old building—okay, what basically did you study? At that time they had the high school courses, they called them tracks. And you were either in a program simply to get out or a commercial program or a college prep program. And I was in the college prep program. You mean just graduate from high school when you get out? Just simply graduate. Okay. Did you attend UNLV? Yes. For how long? I received my Bachelor’s and my Master’s degrees, there. In what? English Literature. Was there any special reason why you wanted to do—graduate in Literature? I was good at it. (Laughs) No. What was your motivation, incentive? Oh. I wanted to teach. That’s just it? You wanted to teach? Yes. Why? And I was good in English Literature. I like it. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 7 That’s like a copout. (Laughs) Do you feel cheated from your schooling, at all? Like now, like they’re writing reports that your children can’t read or write or do their mathematics. Do you feel any kind of way, that you feel cheated, in certain areas? I think the schooling I received in high school was very good. I think it was. It prepared me well for college. However, there’s a difference—Las Vegas High School was very small at that time. Classes were much smaller. I believe the teachers had a lot more time to spend on us individually than is so now. And when we graduated, we had the largest graduating class that had ever been at Las Vegas High school and it was barely 200. And we considered that huge. (Laughs) How many kids were there to a classroom about? Oh, I’d say, in any of mine, there were no more than 30, and in most there were a lot less. Have you ever been to any other countries? Mexico and Canada. Not off the continental United States. How about other towns in Nevada? I haven’t lived in other towns in Nevada. I’ve traveled to practically all of them. How long have you been settled in here, in Las Vegas? Since 1955—on and off. Okay. During the time that you resided in Nevada, what kinds of employment did you undertake? During high school my junior and senior year, which would be 1959 to ’61, I was a runner for an attorney in town. When I graduated in 1961, I worked for two years at the Clark County Juvenile Department, that’s when Michael Callahan was head of it. After that, for a period of, oh, I don’t know, three to four, maybe five years, I was a secretary at the District Attorney’s office, and at a UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 8 loan company. And when I turned 21, I decided I was tired of being a secretary; so, I got a job as a cocktail waitress. And I did that for one summer. That was enough. (Laughs) (Laughs) Then during—then I began teaching, after I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree. And then I went back to school for my Master’s degree. And during that time I was a teaching assistant, so I didn’t need a second job. And then after that I was a drug counselor—for kids, for, I guess about, four years, and then I came back to teaching. Okay. Out of all the—before you started getting heavily into teaching which one satisfied you, then, or, if any? The other jobs? Uh-huh. Did any of them satisfy you at all? The drug counseling, very much so. How come? Because it was still working with kids. Do you like working with kids? Yes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be teaching. (Laughs) (Laughs) Okay. And because in the drug counseling I could see some immediate results. Oh yes. And I liked that. Were you ever discriminated while you were out seeking your jobs, or those particular ones? Discriminated against? UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 9 Mm-hmm. You know when— Yes. I know. The only one I could think that I was discriminated against, was trying to get back into teaching with a Master’s degree. Well, how could that happen, if— Well, because I, it would cost them too much—it would cost the school district too much money to hire me. And I had a very difficult time getting back into teaching with a Master’s. What year was this? This was 19—well, when I got the Master’s, or? Mm-hmm. When you tried to reapply? ’72. 1972. Was this unusual? No. Around that time? No. Hmm. Okay. I hear you’re heavily into politics. I enjoy political activities very much. Okay. What intrigues you much about politics in Nevada? I beg you pardon? What intrigues you the most about politics in Nevada? The thing I like the most is that Nevada still has a relatively small population. And because of that, I think Nevadans are able to meet face to face, on a one to one basis, with their representatives in Congress, much more than in other states, in more populated states. However, UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 10 I also think that because Nevada is very sparsely populated that it’s somewhat behind the times politically. (Laughs) Have you ever participated in any campaigns? Oh yes, since I was in high school. My first one was for John Kennedy, and I participated ever since then. Have you ever thought about running for office? No. Why not? Well, I think, even at my age, I still get disillusioned by people running for office. Intellectually, I know they have to compromise themselves and tell people what they want to hear. But I personally could never do that. Therefore, I never would get elected. Besides that, I don’t have the financial resources to even run. What about— And besides that, it’s not—I’ve learned this, at least, on campaigns—particularly on presidential campaigns—it’s not necessarily the candidate. The people who are really important in the campaign are the people are the people behind the candidate, behind the scenes. And I prefer to wield power that way. Be behind them. (Laughs) I, they have a lot more power. That’s what I like about politics—the power structure. Hmm. Do you have any on campus youth activities? As a teacher, you mean? Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 11 Yes. I’m advisory to the Political Science Club. At Valley High School there is no other club like that, at any other high school. What do you get out of it? I mean, does it fulfill you in being involved, helping the young get involved in politics, in political scenes? Yes, very much so. They come to political campaigns with the kind of enthusiasm and freshness that I did when I was in high school. (Laughs) It’s nice to see that again. And it’s nice to, it’s very exciting to see some very mature reactions and judgements by them, when they are made aware of what’s going on. They won’t grow up to be the average voter, I don’t think. Mm-hmm. No. I think they’ll be a lot more discriminating, and a lot more aware, when they vote. Okay. What has been your most important event in your life, in Nevada? The birth of my daughter, without a doubt! Okay. Have you ever been married? Yes. For how long? Little over a year. And you got divorced? Yes. What brought that on? We were mismatched. (Laughs) you have any other children? No. Just one? UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 12 Yes. What’s her name? Devy. Devy? Yes, with a V. V. Okay. Oh, how will you come about financially in Nevada? I beg you pardon? Between living in Chicago and being in Nevada, which one has served as more? Well, if I had stayed in Chicago, first of all, I never would have received the opportunity, it’s very doubtful, that I would have ever received the opportunity to attend college, much less graduate from high school. None of my friends or relatives in Chicago ever did, because of the circumstances there. So, obviously, it was a very important move for me. I would be a lot worse off if I had stayed there. You mean that Nevada helped you— Oh yes, because, again, I would never have been able to attend college in Chicago, never. It was out of my reach. Do you consider Nevada a land where you can, you have an equal opportunity? Yes. I think Nevada is classless. It doesn’t have a long tradition, necessarily. We have our families who have been here since the pioneer days. But they’re not necessarily the aristocrats, as they are on the east coast, and even in the Midwest. And so, I think people do have a lot more in a state like Nevada, than in another state with a long heritage. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 13 Okay. Let’s go back to when you were growing up here. Now, I mean, from a lot of films that I see, it’s considered a violent town. Have you ever witnessed anything that, you know, anything obstructing to you? Personally? Uh-huh. No. No. I have knowledge of a lot of the violence that did go on, still does go on, but personally, no. In fact, when I—I went to school for a while in upstate New York, and I used to boast to the people from the east coast that there was not a street in Las Vegas that I was afraid to walk down at any time of the day or night. ‘Course that isn’t true now— (Laughs) But it was then. What were some of these things that you mean that you knew that were going on? Well, my stepfather is very active in one of the trade unions in town. So, we knew quite a few people from the trade unions. And I knew their kids. And for instance, one of the business agents of one of the unions in town was shot-gunned in his front yard, in front yard, in front of his kids. Mm-hmm. What year was this? Boy, I don’t know. This was late ‘50s, I believe. Do you keep your child locked up in the house from things like this? (Laughs) No. But I keep a very close watch on her, when she is out of the house. She doesn’t go far. (Laughs) Okay. What kind of—do you let her attend Las Vegas public schools? No. She’s in a private school. UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 14 Why would she do that? She did attend a public school and I was extremely dissatisfied with it. She was not getting the proper motivation. She was not getting the proper supervision. And I wanted more for her. You don’t believe that residential schools would do that?—the public schools. No. Again, it has to do with mainly, I feel, the size of the schools right now. Her school, as a first grader, the public school she went to had 600 kids in it. Now there is no way, her class had 37 in it. And these are, for many kids, this was their first experience with school. And I think that’s highly unreasonable. The school’s she’s in now is extremely small. There are 18 kids in her class. She gets a lot more individual attention. She’s challenged more. And the teacher is aware at all times of what is going on. As a first grade teacher I don’t know how that teacher could even supposed to watch 37 kids. Mm-hmm. So you would say that when you were going to school was much better than it is now? Regardless of the fact that Las Vegas is growing. Yes. Yes. And part of the problem with the schools has been the growth. Did you have any knowledge of Las Vegas before you came here? One thing that’s kind of interesting, my stepfather came here right after the war, and homesteaded some land. And we were always going to build a house on it. But he never quite got around to it. My mother has always been an avid reader of the classified ads in the newspaper. And one day she saw this ad it said, “Free House!” Mm-hmm. (Laughs) And so she went down to see the free house. And what had happened was, on Fremont Street, there used to be the Sears building. And in back of the Sears building was this huge house that UNLV University Libraries Judith Ann Allaire 15 had been owned by one of Judge McNamee’s great-aunt— one of the pioneer families in Nevada. She had died and Judge McNamee really Mm-hmm.