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Transcript of interview with Edwina E. Danzienger by Leanne Terry, February 26 & 29, 1980

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1980-02-26
1980-02-29

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On February 26 and 29 of 1980, Leanne Terry interviewed Edwina E. Danzinger (born 1925 in Houston, Texas) about her life in Southern Nevada. Danzinger first talks about her family, specifically her siblings, children, and grandchildren. She also talks about church membership, early housing in Nevada, her husband’s work on the Nevada Test Site, and her family’s hunting practices. Danzinger then describes her involvement in Boy Scouts and hiking, her various positions of employment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, how the college campus has changed over time, and how the college students have changed over the years. The two also talk about the changes in the crime rate, the atomic testing, air pollution, and the changes made to the university by the Buckley Amendment.

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OH_00330_transcript

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OH-00330
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    Danzinger, Edwina E. Interview, 1980 February 26 & 29. OH-00330. [Transcript.] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

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    This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu

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    Digitized materials: physical originals can be viewed in Special Collections and Archives reading room

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    English

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    36.0397, -114.98194

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    application/pdf

    UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger i An Interview with Edwina Danzinger An Oral History Conducted by Leanne Terry Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger iii 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 Edwina Danzinger iv Abstract On February 26 and 29 of 1980, Leanne Terry interviewed Edwina E. Danzinger (born 1925 in Houston, Texas) about her life in Southern Nevada. Danzinger first talks about her family, specifically her siblings, children, and grandchildren. She also talks about church membership, early housing in Nevada, her husband’s work on the Nevada Test Site, and her family’s hunting practices. Danzinger then describes her involvement in Boy Scouts and hiking, her various positions of employment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, how the college campus has changed over time, and how the college students have changed over the years. The two also talk about the changes in the crime rate, the atomic testing, air pollution, and the changes made to the university by the Buckley Amendment. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 1 Okay, I’d like your name for the record here. Okay, this is Edwina Danzinger speaking, D-A-N-Z-I-N-G-E-R. Okay. And where do you live now? At 356 North Sixteenth Street in Las Vegas—been there for twenty-seven years. That seems like a long time. Probably longer than you’ve been alive. Twenty-five. (Laughs) (Laughs) Okay, and where were you born? Houston, Texas. And that date— You want the date? Yes. February 5th, 1925. Okay. Do you have any ancestors here in Nevada, or? I don’t have any ancestors. I have two grown children who live in the Reno area and have been up there for quite some time; they prefer it to Las Vegas. My daughter and her husband, he’s an attorney—they’ve lived there since his graduation from UCLA Law School—can’t think of the year, ’71 or ’72. And my son has been there since about ’75. And did he get most of his elementary school here? Yes, he was born here in Las Vegas, graduated from Las Vegas High School—all of our children graduated from Las Vegas High School. How about your daughter, can you tell me something about her? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 2 The one in Reno? Mm-hmm. ‘Cause we have another one here. Oh, give them both. Okay, the one in Reno graduated from Las Vegas High School, went to Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon her first year. We chose that because it was a small Baptist college and wanted her to have that kind of environment. Her second year, she wanted to get away from home and establish her independence (unintelligible). So it’s a school that she stayed in? Well, she didn’t care for it. It was small, and they were very parental and looked down the nose at her as if she were (unintelligible). How about your other daughter? The other daughter has lived in Las Vegas since she was six months old. We came here twenty-six years ago today, by the way. Oh, well Happy Anniversary. Yes, thank you. (Laughs) Twenty-six years ago today, oh, that’s neat. (Laughs) Do you celebrate your anniversary? No, we don’t celebrate this one. After twenty-six years, no? No. Kind of a miserable day. We pulled a house trailer, we called them then—they call them mobile homes now—with two small children, and our car broke down out somewhere on the way. Out here in the desert? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 3 On the way between Baker and Las Vegas. Oh, why, that must have been traumatic. What was that like? Oh, we had a friend in town, and we called him and he came out. Was it in the summertime? No, it was February, it was this date. Oh, yes, okay. So the weather was not—I can’t remember whether it was hot or, you know, warm or cold, but not adverse, I would say. You can’t remember if it was like now, (unintelligible)? Probably about like now. It was an old car. Where did you say your son was practicing, in law? Our son-in-law, his name is John Frankovich. Okay. He’s F-R-A-N-K-O-V-I-C-H. He was with the firm of McDonald/Corano/Bible—I don’t know who, I’m probably leaving somebody else—and his name is also on the end. He’s a fairly new partner. He started as a junior partner, trainee, the new (unintelligible). I don’t know what types of cases he takes, but it’s not criminal law, and I don’t know that he specializes in divorce or that type of thing—I don’t know. I heard you talking earlier to one of your friends about your daughter-in-law that’s been recently hurt. Yes. Could you tell me something about that, the airplane accident? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 4 Our son and daughter-in-law were divorced last year between Christmas and New Year’s, and her cousin, who is a pilot, invited her to go along with he and his girlfriend to Mexico and to bring a friend, which she did. They left Las Vegas on the weekend of Washington’s birthday, which was just less than two weeks ago. Mm-hmm. Flew down to Baja—I don’t know the name of the place—had a wonderful time and were en route home, hit fog and darkness at Searchlight, attempted to land, didn’t make it on the first pass, pulled up the circle again, and pulled up back to speed and nosedived into the desert. My daughter-in-law and the friend that she took along and her cousin were all thrown out. The girl that died was in the plane; she was not thrown out. Do you know her name? Her name was Marilyn Price. And (unintelligible)? Yes, our daughter-in-law is Sarah Danzinger, the pilot was Jerry Earl, and the fellow that was least injured that accompanied my daughter-in-law, his name was Tony Hunter. When the plane impacted with the ground, whether Tony Hunter was knocked unconscious, I don’t know. His injuries were less serious than the others, although he had a concussion, and his forehead had quite a long, about four-inch scar, it was bleeding from a gash in his head. He looked about and checked on the passengers, zipped their coats, pulled their hoods up, found a vest to put on Marilyn in the plane, and told Sarah that he was going for help, that Marilyn was very bad off and he had to go and get help for all of them. Sarah had a broken leg—the extent of her injuries were not known at the time of the crash, but since then we discovered she had her upper right leg broken in three places, her shoulder and collarbone on the left were separated, she had a broken UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 5 vertebrae in her lower back, plus a cut over her left eye. Plus, her face looked like she had been drug through the ground. How is she doing now, in the hospital? She is at Valley Hospital. She had surgery on the leg last Thursday. The doctor is concerned. He had to graft a bone out of her hip into the existing bones and put in a steel plate in her leg and metal screw in her knee. She had to have four units of blood pumped through her Sunday, trying to establish (unintelligible). She’s staying (unintelligible)? She’s in good spirits, and she’s a fighter, and her face, her complexion, has cleared up beautifully—it’s all healed—and she’s in good spirits. And she has a nine-and-a-half-year-old daughter, our oldest grandchild. Oh, (unintelligible). We thank God that she is alive, yes. And have you heard how the others are doing? Because Jerry was brought in, he was placed on the critical list because he had a severe concussion, he had a broken hip, a broken arm, a broken hand, and I don’t know, numerous cuts and bruises. I didn’t see him since yet; I have met him once before. He is making excellent progress. He’s up and around with a walker and eating steak, and (unintelligible) recovering, still in the hospital at Valley. I wonder if he will every fly again. That’s a very good question that I wouldn’t attempt to answer. (Unintelligible) small— UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 6 It was a small craft, yes, so I believe it was a (unintelligible) Cessna. I don’t know, I didn’t see the crash on the news, I missed it that night when they showed the plane. Okay. Let me have something about yourself now. Your education background and your (unintelligible)? Okay. You mentioned family size here—I had two brothers and two sisters, both brothers still living, both live in Texas. I had two sisters; one died at the age of seven, one at the age of fifty-two in 1968. She died of cancer. The other sister died in 1927. They were both older than me; I’m the youngest in the family. You’re the baby. I’m the baby. (Laughs) In fact, my nickname is Babe, which is undignified and we do not use it at the university. I know (unintelligible). I have three children. I mentioned Elaine is the oldest, lives in Reno. Barbara lives here in Las Vegas; she has two little boys, and she is a student here at the university. She took a big step forward. Her thirtieth birthday was August of last year. She quit her job, returned to the university on financial aid and loans and grants and has an extremely well precision degree in music and special education. And she’s done very well, has a boy, seven, and a boy, four. Oh, wow, (unintelligible). It is. And of course, Tom, our son, has a degree from UNLV. He graduated with a bachelor of science with a biology major. Subsequently, he moved to Sparks and attempted to get into medical school at Reno but was turned down three years in a row and, in the meantime, worked as a surgical nurse at Washoe Medical Center. And working there at the hospital changed his UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 7 goals, and decided he would rather be a nurse and have his private life and his time than to be a doctor. He either lacked dedication or chose not to pursue that field—not being critical of him. Did he go and take his (unintelligible) then? Yes, he took a nursing program at Reno, at UNR; he graduated last May from their nursing program and is currently employed at Washoe Medical Center as a registered nurse. He got his start here at UNLV. Okay. Anything else about your family? We have five grandchildren. Are they in the Las Vegas area? We have two in the Reno area, two granddaughters. One is three and one is fairly new; she was born last August. Oh, wow. And then we have the two boys here, our middle daughter’s children, and our oldest grandchild, our daughter-in-law and our son’s daughter. Would you like to tell me something about your own personal background? My ancestors go way back, as most of ours do. At one time, I had a family history or tree or whatever you call it where they go back and trace your—can’t think of the word at this point what it is—but as I recall from that, we had relatives from England and Germany (other distinctions). We’re said to be related to Francis Scott Key. My mother told me that she was related to the Johns and the Johns Manville Corporation, perhaps you heard of that company; they make insulation (unintelligible). Because her ancestors were Johns—Sarah Elizabeth Johns was my great-great-grandmother. (Unintelligible) I’m not a name-dropper. (Laughs) Where was your mother from? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 8 My mother was born in Georgia, and my father was born in Alabama. They’re very simple people, uneducated. Neither of them even finished grammar school. So you’ve had several generations here in America? Yes, in America. My own education, I did graduate from high school and business college. I’m taking courses for credit at the community college and at UNLV, and I’m currently enrolled in UNLV. Did you get your business, in what area? I got it down in Houston—I didn’t get a degree. I attended business college until my fills were high enough to hold a job. And at that point, I secured employment. Okay, and how about our church membership? Yes, I’m a member of (unintelligible) Baptist Church, a charter member. I (unintelligible) a year. Our children started going when we were building our home. We bought a vacant lot in 1951 and started building. My husband was working at the Test Site, lots of overtime. And we didn’t start building until ’52, and we moved there when our daughter was in kindergarten, the oldest girl was in kindergarten. We moved there in May when she was six years old, and she’s thirty-three, so that was twenty-seven years ago. We moved the house trailer over there. My husband installed the plumbing and the floor poured, and we had electricity, and pulled the trailer over there and lived in back of the lot. And he had to go through a plywood shed without a roof on it, and we had a toilet and we had a metal flush tub that we paved in. What was Nevada like then? Oh, Nevada was small and empty and very few sparsely built up—many, many vacant lots. Did you have any close neighbors? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 9 There was a house in each corner; we bought a corner lot. And there were already existing houses on three of the corners. One was fairly recent, two of them had been moved in from Henderson—they were with the flat roof type thing. And one house was directly behind us on the corner of Bruce, and those people are still there. But they were there before we were. Was it difficult to find your housing when you first came out here? Housing was not plentiful, but we didn’t worry about it because we had our trailer, and we felt quite comfortable. Although, it was very confined; it was a twenty-seven foot measurement from bumper to bumper—that’s outside measure—seven (unintelligible) with three children at this point. And seven-foot wide was the outside measurement on the width, and no bathroom and no hot water. Boy, that’s the true pioneer. We really roughed it for ten years until we got the house built enough to move in. And that’s the one you’re living in now? Yes, we’re currently living—we all moved across the United States in this little trailer—well, we moved from California. From California. I was raised in Houston, Texas and moved to California when my father moved out to the naval yard at the test station—they call it (unintelligible) in California. They were advertising for carpenters in the Houston paper, and he was tired of the shipyard, so he came out to the Test Site. And I met my husband there; he was a welder in a welding shop, and I went to work as secretary to the superintendent of the welding shop. This would be a good time to (unintelligible) about your husband; he worked at the Test Site (unintelligible)? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 10 At the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California, he worked on building that place. Before you came here? That was before we came here. We lived there for five years, and then we had a brief state in a place called (unintelligible), California. I think we stayed there about six months or less, and then we (unintelligible) in Bakersfield and moved here for employment. We worked with (unintelligible) over there and got a job here immediately—worked for one company for twelve years, and he’s been with the other one (unintelligible). Okay, what is the name of the (unintelligible)? He worked, first at Lincoln Welding Works, and now he works at Vegas (unintelligible). Okay, can you tell me a little bit about the place he worked at the Test Site? He went to the Test Site with his company, and it was Lincoln Welding, sent him up there on contracts that they had. Sometimes he lived at the Test Site, and sometimes he commuted back and forth. So his job was welding at the Test Site? Yes, welding and structural steel. Since we were married, he joined the ironworkers union, so he is an ironworker. Okay. Are there are any other organizations that you’re in, you’d like to speak about? Yes, I belonged to the National Secretary Association. Oh, I see your award out on the wall. Yes. Tell me about that—Secretary of the Year. Right, in 1977. Every year, our local chapter has a contest to see who will be Secretary of the Year. And a questionnaire is sent out to all members on the basis of points answered in the UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 11 questionnaire. The three scoring the highest area then called to meet a panel of judges, and depending on their answers and their educational background and their participation in NSA, they get points for that whether you held an office or this type of thing—combined with the points from the answers that you give the judges on three questions. You have a person from education, a secretary in business, a non-NSA secretary, and then you have someone from another field. There’s a panel of judges, and your combined points determines which person wins with the chapter. Then the chapter sends the winner to division, which is generally held in Arizona. And the year that I went, it was in (unintelligible) Arizona. Oh. (Unintelligible) And then I competed there with the winners from the other chapters in the region. And I believe there were five other chapters that competed with the Las Vegas chapter. All of the other secretaries had earned their certified professional secretary, so I was the one that did not; however, four of those also lost, so I don’t feel that that held me back. It was just that the one that answered one (unintelligible) out many. (Laughs) Okay. I also bowl. I’m not a good bowler, but I belong to the Dirty Dozen League on Friday night. Oh, (unintelligible) Dirty Dozen, is that an old family-type? No, it’s just a women’s league, and Pepsi Cola sponsors our team—one of the girls works with Pepsi. And do you compete with each other? We compete—there are twelve teams in the league, that’s why they call it the Dirty Dozen. Oh. So just the local area? Yes. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 12 And there’s twelve teams? Twelve teams, five people on each time. And you’re part of the Dirty Dozen? Right. (Laughs) Member of the Dirty Dozen. Where did you come up with that name? I don’t know, it was already named. I didn’t have anything to do with the organization or the league—it was there, and they had an opening on the team and I joined. Well, what places have you travelled around here since you’ve been here in Las Vegas? You’ve always stayed here in the city only? No, we’ve been around the state and out of the state quite a bit. We used to go down to Houston, Texas at Christmas and Thanksgiving when my parents were still living so that they would have an opportunity to see the children. And at that time, the whole family lived there; I was the only alien in the group. (Laughs) So holiday times were fun to get together. And we have made numerous trips to California to visit my husband’s relatives there, mostly in the San Diego area, an in fact we were married at National City (unintelligible). It will be thirty-five years ago on April 8th this year. Well, Happy Anniversary again. (Laughs) (Laughs) Thank you. There are all kinds of anniversaries. Haven’t reached that one yet, but Lord willing, we’ll— Oh, that’s (unintelligible). Oh, we go deer hunting very year. Last year, we were cheated. They didn’t draw our name out of the barrel. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 13 Oh, here in Las Vegas? Here in Nevada, they didn’t give us a tag. We have hunted in Nevada every year—my husband has hunted every year except for last year that we didn’t get a tag. I hunted every year except two years. The first year we were here, I was quite pregnant. My son was born November 13th, and I wasn’t able to go deer hunting, obviously. Then, last year, because we didn’t get a tag. So you actually deer hunt yourself? I hunt, I shoot, I clean, I know how to gut the deer, as we call it, I know how to remove the hide from the deer. Last year that we hunted, I got a trophy buck—I was skinning the buck out at camp while my husband went over another deer, there was snow on the ground, the wind was blowing, it was about twenty degrees, a chill factor around zero, when I split my finger open with a very sharp skinning knife to the bone. Oh, (unintelligible). What kind of gun do you use? I use a .30-30, or a .32 Winchester Special. We hunt in the Mount Wheeler area, generally around Wheeler Peak. The specific area is known as Weaver Creek, about 300 miles from Las Vegas. It’s about sixty miles south and east of Ely near the Utah border, near the Lehman Caves. You’re such a small lady and look very fragile; how did you ever get into deer hunting, was it with your husband, or? My husband was interested in hunting, and he had been deer hunting the first time the season before we were married. He had done a lot of bird hunting in Illinois—he’s from Illinois. And he had hunted rabbits and birds. So he taught you how to shoot—? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 14 And we just went out together and learned to hunt and fish, and we lived near the High Sierras for five years and went to Independence Creek and Hilton Creek and (unintelligible) Creek, up on Bishop and Big Pine. And how was the hunting up there? It was good. The deer (unintelligible) and you had to hunt them just like you do here. They don’t run across the road in front of you, normally. Now, I heard you say you had to draw in order to have a license to deer hunt? Yes. How long has that been in effect? That’s just the last two years, I believe. And that’s the deer population, to control? Yes, to control the herd. And now they’re (unintelligible). I wonder how many people are (unintelligible). I don’t really know. They don’t tell us how many people. It’s in the paper at hunting time, we just observe at that time. And when is hunting season? Hunting season generally open the first weekend in October, and then it closes, generally, Veteran’s Day weekend in November. You have about five or six weeks is all. How often do you go out? You can go as many times as you want. You can go and stay the whole time or you could go back and forth. We have a little trailer now. We went tent camping the first year and (unintelligible) to sleep on the ground in a sleeping bag and to cook over a Coleman stove on my knees and to bump my head on a Coleman lantern every time I raised up in the tent. And we UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 15 have taken many trips with the Boy Scouts. Hiking trips—we have hiked, I can’t think of the name of the trail in Zion [National] Park. We’ve hiked rim to river on the Bright Angel Trail of the Grand Canyon. We’ve hiked rim to rim on the Grand Canyon from the north rim to the south rim; that is, you go down to the (unintelligible) Ranch and then back up. Is this with—? With the Scouts, not just (unintelligible). And we’ve hiked with the Boy Scouts in the Hermit Trail, which is the rim to the river in the Grand Canyon. They are hikers as well? Backpackers, yes. Does the whole family join in on this pretty much? Not so much. Our older daughter didn’t care that much. She was already into college when we got into this, and high school activities (unintelligible) popular girls, and too many things of her own going. The younger daughter went on several of the trips, and our son, of course, went on all of them. (Unintelligible) I love backpacking. Oh, tell me something about that. It’s quite strenuous. You have to be in shape. Do you have a heavy pack? Yes. How much can you—? Well, I believe the last time I went was on the Grand Canyon trip with the Hermit Trail, and I packed away twenty-five pounds. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 16 You’re a very experienced hiker. Well, I was experienced; I’m out of shape now. Do you have to hike all the time to keep in shape? You should be in good physical shape either from hiking or exercising or walking or bicycling, running, anything like that. I’m trying to get back in shape so I can do it again. So that’s sort of a new thing you’ve done for the last few years, hiking, or did you always go out to hike? I don’t think we took up hiking until our son was in Boy Scouts, and then we just sort of fell into it, because, when you go deer hunting, my husband doesn’t look for the dinner hunting downhill; he always goes to the highest peak. You go to one ranch and say, “This is it, we’re gonna turn back now,” and (unintelligible) always goes up. So he must be a hiker, too. Yes, and a hard worker. Could you tell me a little bit about your job? Well, I’ve been at the university—another anniversary. (Laughs) Coming up, will be fifteen years the 1st of July at UNLV. How much has your position changed from fifteen years ago? Well, I first started, I was hired to be a secretary to Dr. Paul Harris, who is still at UNLV in the Theatre Arts Department; he was then Dean of the School of Humanities and Fine Arts, it was called. At a point in time, fine arts separated and became the School of Fine Arts, and Dr. Richard Burns was the dean of that school. I remained with Dr. Harris at that time. Subsequently to that, social sciences, fine arts, and humanities combined into the College of Arts and Letters. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 17 So, that grew into one big college. Before that happened, I transferred to the Registrar’s Office—well, I started as a senior clerk steno, and my salary was $364 a month. (Laughs) Oh— [Audio cuts out] [Recording starts midsentence] any of your neighbors longtime residents here in Nevada? Yes, the people that live behind us have lived there for longer than we have, which is probably thirty years or so. This lady, her husband was in the Air Force and stationed at Nellis, and he was killed in World War II. What were the roads like? Were they well-travelled? Now too many of well-travelled roads—a lot of dirt roads. Eastern Avenue ended—there was a dirt road from Bonanza to Owens, was just an access road, actually. And Maryland Parkway pretty well ended at Sahara. And Charleston probably went as far as Rancho Road. Maryland Parkway wasn’t like it is now? No. Okay. Has the highway system improved, in your opinion, or failed with the population growth? Well, I think it has improved considerably. There’s a lot of room for more improvement. Getting rid of the Widow Maker was a big factor—the Widow Maker is the highway between here and the Test Site. I remember that it’s called that because a lot of men going or coming home from the Test Site were killed on that highway. I’m not too familiar with the Test Site area. Can you tell me what location—? Yes, it’s up Mercury. Mercury? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 18 And It’s the other side of Indian Springs. How long ago was that they (unintelligible)? It was in the early fifties. A lot of people were killed then? Quite a few. We lost several friends on that highway. So that was one of the worst roads that (unintelligible). Yes. Have you heard about it? Definitely. I’d like to ask you a few questions about UNLV and how long you’ve been here. When did you first come to work for UNLV? July 1st, 1965. I have an anniversary coming up. And when was your anniversary? The anniversary at UNLV will be fifteen years this coming July. Oh, that’s right. I was thinking (unintelligible)— That’s okay. Okay. How large has the campus been through the building compared to now? There weren’t too many buildings. The first building I worked in for about two weeks was [Archie] Grant Hall, which was the second building on campus. Frazier Hall was the first building. The library was also here, and the science tech building and social science buildings was brand new at that time. Since that time, the dormitory was built, the [Flora Dungan] Humanities building, the Judy Bailey Theatre, the Artemus Ham Concert Hall, chemistry building, Juanita Greer White Life Science building, the Student Union building. So, since 1965, it’s more than doubled. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 19 More than doubled, right. And there were no buildings over two stories to begin with; it was an agreement to keep the profile of the town low in a Western atmosphere. That’s interesting. But as ground became more valuable, the university had to go up, and so we had the seven-story building, humanities. The students’ dress has changed drastically in the last few decades; did you notice a drastic change in student attitudes as well? I believe there was quite a drastic change. Initially, during the Vietnamese conflict and the Korean War, many of the students came simply to avoid the draft. And I think the students that we have now want to be here, and they’re more serious. They are pursuing an education for career goal reasons, and they’re more oriented to getting that. So a lot of people just came to school to avoid the draft? Right. We still have a few students who come merely to, I call it, sponge. They have Social Security benefits and they don’t want to lose them, or they have veterans’ benefits they don’t want to lose. And perhaps they never earn a degree; they just attend school and they get loans and grants and this type of thing, never earning a degree, never paying anything back. I missed a question I’d like to ask you about: your position here at UNLV, how much have they changed from the first time you started? Well, when I first started, I was a senior clerk steno, and my salary was $164 a month. My next step was a principal clerk steno, and from that I went to Administrative Secretary I, and there was no promotion after that, although I had a title change; my title was changed from registrar supervisor. And how many times were under you, or—? UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 20 Well, the staff here grew from about five or six to fourteen currently. That’s quite a few people. Yes, it is. Okay, I’ll go ahead and ask you about the students again. Is there any traditions that were observed in the past that you wish the students would observe now, such as their attitudes? The one particular—I don’t know whether you could class it as a tradition, and the attitude might be strictly my own, but I was disappointed when they made the dormitory into a coeducational dormitory. My own feelings are that people behave better when they have restrictions. And originally in the dormitory, the top three floors were for women and the bottom three were for men. And I just feel that that’s the way it should be, that there’d be greater respect between the men and the women (unintelligible). But you are still for the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment] and—? Well, I’m for equal rights, yes. I’m for liberated women, but I’m not for pushy women who demand things just simply because they’re a woman any more than I am for a person demanding something because they’re a certain color. Have you noticed any of the students that do live in the co-dorms, if there’s been any change in their attitude as far as being more loose or being rude to you here, either in personnel, or—did you notice anything? I’ve noticed that we get a lot of foulmouthed, working at the counter face-to-face, students—they’re not all dormitory students—make them a group and point them out (unintelligible). Students have become more demanding and more rude—I believe, in former times, they were taught to say, “Yes, ma’am,” and “No, ma’am,” and “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir,” and “Thank you,” and “Please,” and I don’t think manners ever go out of style. UNLV University Libraries Edwina Danzinger 21 Well, with the trouble in Israel, the draft, and nuclear power, are a few of the topics in the campus—wha