Oral history interview with Lynda Tache conducted by Stefani Evans on August 13, 2026 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Tache recalls her early life growing up in Anaheim, California near Disneyland. After working at a Hilton property in California, Tache decided to enroll in the hospitality program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). During her time in the hospitality program, Tache worked at the MGM Grand Las Vegas where she witnessed events like the Bite Fight and the murder of Tupac Shakur. Tache married her college boyfriend and their son Grant was born in 2001. Tache talks about how she knew early on that Grant was different and needed support; he was eventually diagnosed with autism. Tache discusses how she shifted her focus to support and advocate for her son. In 2009, she opened the Grant A Gift Autism Foundation, an organization focused on finding support and therapies for children with autism and their families. The Grant a Gift Autism Foundation eventually partnered with the UNLV School of Medicine, which grew the foundation at a rapid pace. Tache talks about how she stepped down from the foundation in 2017 to care for her son as he entered his teen years. The interview concludes with Tache discussing how she is focused on supporting other families who who felt the same as she did before her son’s diagnosis and how proud she is of Grant who is living a fulfilling life with a job and a girlfriend. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Oral history interview with Lynda Tache conducted by Stefani Evans on August 13, 2026 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Tache recalls her early life growing up in Anaheim, California near Disneyland. After working at a Hilton property in California, Tache decided to enroll in the hospitality program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). During her time in the hospitality program, Tache worked at the MGM Grand Las Vegas where she witnessed events like the Bite Fight and the murder of Tupac Shakur. Tache married her college boyfriend and their son Grant was born in 2001. Tache talks about how she knew early on that Grant was different and needed support; he was eventually diagnosed with autism. Tache discusses how she shifted her focus to support and advocate for her son. In 2009, she opened the Grant A Gift Autism Foundation, an organization focused on finding support and therapies for children with autism and their families. The Grant A Gift Autism Foundation eventually joined with the UNLV School of Medicine, which grew the foundation at a rapid pace. Tache talks about how she stepped down from the foundation in 2017 to care for her son as he entered his teen years. The interview concludes with Tache discussing how she is focused on supporting other families who who felt the same as she did before her son’s diagnosis and how proud she is of Grant who is living a fulfilling life with a job and a girlfriend. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish. Some transcripts do not exist in final form, therefore any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked.
Lynda Tache oral history interview, 2026 August 13. OH-03974. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1rr41
This interview was conducted and transcribed by the Oral History Research Center (OHRC) which is part of the UNLV University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Division.
Interview materials were processed by UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 2026. Tammi Kim wrote the collection description. Access copies were created for born-digital audio files. The audio has been minimally reviewed and all readily available information has been included in the description.