Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

Transcript of interview with Helen M. Cecil by Claytee D. White, April 24, 2007

Document

Document
Download OH_00356_book_o.pdf (application/pdf; 22.01 MB)

Information

Date

2007-04-24

Description

Helen Mott Cecil was born in 1916 and grew up in Las Vegas. Her grandparents were miners and her grandmother owned property on the Westside. She recalls a friendly neighborhood and walking back and forth to school with neighborhood children. The family moved several times finally settling at 601 South Main Street. While attending Las Vegas High School she participated in several Helldorado parades with her father and brother. At the age of 15, Helen remembers the constriction of the first downtown post office. When the Hoover Dam started in 1931, her father was the under-sheriff. One of his duties was distributing health cards to prostitutes. Her memories include Saturday night dances in Anderson's Mess Hall in Boulder City, atomic bomb testing at the Nevada Test Site walking to church services on Fremont Street, Woodlawn Cemetery, the old Henderson Townsite and meeting President Roosevelt at the Hoover Dam dedication. As a high school student she served as president and counselor in her Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 1934 she graduated from Las Vegas High School. Helen held numerous jobs before getting married at the age of 26-bookkeeper, movie theatre usher, telephone operator, and secretarial work. Her husband Bill worked at all three post office locations in the Las Vegas area. At the age of 91, Helen and her sister still live and enioy life in Las Vegas sharing their many memories of early Las Vegas.

Digital ID

OH_00356_book
    Details

    Citation

    Helen Mott Cecil oral history interview, 2007 April 24. OH-00356. [Transcript]. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/d1dr2sc0c

    Rights

    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.

    Standardized Rights Statement

    Language

    English

    Format

    application/pdf

    An Interview with Helen Mott Cecil An Oral History Conducted by Claytee D. White The Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas 2003 - 2008 ©The Boyer Early L