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Williams, Myrna, 1929-
Myrna Williams was born in Chicago in 1929. Her brother was the singer Mel Tormé, so the family moved to Hollywood when she was ten because her brother was under contract with MGM. Shortly after Myrna turned 21, she moved to New York to work for Decca Records. She met the jazz drummer David Williams, whom she married. Myrna, David, and their daughter Indy moved to Las Vegas in 1959. Myrna got involved in politics, and was elected to the Nevada State Assembly and to the Clark County Commission.
Person
VanDerMeer, Lambert, 1899-1983
Lambert VanDerMeer was a 55-year resident of Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born in Holland in November 23, 1899, and was a member of the North Las Vegas, Nevada Host Lions Club. He died October 07, 1983.
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Conner, Louis Alfred, Sr., 1942-2020
Louis Alfred Conner Sr. was born September 16, 1942 to Hazel Blalark and Clarence Conner in Tallulah, Louisiana. Louis was an activist who gave tirelessly of his time and resources to his community. He was the first African American Food and Beverage Director in a Las Vegas casino. He served as a Commissioner of the Las Vegas Housing Authority, President of the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, President of the Nevada Black Chamber of Commerce and a board member for the Las Vegas Boys and Girls Club.
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Carter, Leon, Sr., 1930-
Leon Carter, Sr. migrated to Las Vegas in 1942 at 12 years of age. After attending elementary school on the Westside, he enrolled for high school at Las Vegas High. Because of his schedule, he played baseball with the city team - The Cowboys. Baseball skills let him to play in Canada and Mexico. Later, when he returned to Las Vegas, his job skills in drafting and carpentry took him to the Nevada Test Site and then into the construction industry. When that did not yield enough income, He entered the gaming industry as a dealer.
Person
Makino, Kaku, 1943-
Kaku Makino, the King of Japanese Buffet, was born in 1943 and raised in Tokyo, Japan, in a traditional, wealthy family. After surviving mumps at age four, he suffered a severe hearing loss. His father encouraged Kaku to play baseball, and he excelled. But his father died when Kaku was twenty years old, and, the oldest of four sons, he had to support the family, and he became a chef--an occupation he followed for twenty years in Tokyo before following his younger brothers to the U.S. in 1989.
Person
Tao, Jerry, 1968-
Born in Taiwan, naturalized citizen and District Court Judge Jerry Tao's family exemplifies the ways political systems affect people on the ground. Tao's grandfather wrote speeches for Chiang-Kai-shek until the mid-1960s, when Mao Zedong's Communist party began purging leaders of the previous regime. As a high-ranking government official, Tao's grandfather left China under threat of death and settled in Taiwan.
Person
Ly, Brendan, 1973-
Born in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1973, Brendan Ly was one of seven children. Because his father fought with the Americans, the family was in danger daily. They escaped by boat in 1978-79 to a refugee camp in Hong Kong, then to Raleigh, North Carolina, for one year and finally to San Jose, California, where Brendan grew up. From the time he was eight years old, Brendan contributed to the family income picking fruit and vegetables in the summers and doing back-of-the-house labor in catering and retail.
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Tang, Kochy, 1973-
Second-generation physician Kochy Tang arrived in Las Vegas in 1999 to complete her Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) residency; she stayed because she became part of a congenial medical community. Tang's father, Y. Y. Tang, M.D., left China in the early 1940s to go to France and then to Boston to attend Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1945. He was drafted into the U.S. Army for the Korean War and served in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H.) unit. After the war, he practiced alternative medicine in San Francisco and Reno.
Person
Fritz, Pom, 1950-
One of four children born to a farming family in Udon Thani, Thailand, Pom Fritz is a retired guest room attendant (Flamingo, Desert Inn, and Mirage) and member of Culinary Workers Union Local 226, serving the Union as committee member, shop steward, Trustee, and member of the Executive Board. Pom came to the U.S. with her second husband, an American, in 1972. After stops at Air Force bases near Sacramento and in North Carolina, she moved to Riverside, California, where her younger sister then lived.
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