Three decades prior to this interview, Chris Guinchigliani moved to Las Vegas and began teaching at the Clark County School District. Seeing Las Vegas as a place of personal opportunity, she involved herself first in the teachers union; eventually serving as president of the Nevada State Education Association from 1987 through 1991. She shares some of her political experiences being elected to the Nevada State Assembly for 16 years and then became a Clark County Commissioner. Chris and her husband Gary Gray (above left) are longtime residents of the John S. Park Neighborhood and Chris was among those who originated the idea to getting a historical designation for the community. She highlights the process and obstacles within the community as people developed an understanding about what preservation really meant. She touches upon a broad range of topics that living in the neighborhood: Manhattanization, increased traffic, crime, lack of amenities such as a grocery store, the
Black and white image of students from a high school freshman class held at a Methodist church, possibly in Nevada. Back row, from left to right: Olive Lake, Teacher Miss Jones, and May Depew. Front row, from left to right: Nita Tooley, Herbert Squires, Rose Coughlin, Harold Clayson, and Jessie Bishop.
Oral history interview with Keny Stewart conducted by Claytee D. White on January 16, 2010 for the Voices of the Historic John S. Park neighborhood Oral History Project. Stewart discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1984 to work as an entertainer, and later his other careers as an elementary school teacher and as a library specialist. He also talks about buying a house in the John S. Park Neighborhood that was built in the 1940s and being a neighborhood association president.
Oral history interview with Pamela Jones Brown conducted by Claytee D. White on June 12, 2019 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Brown discusses her upbringing in Nashville, Tennessee and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1968. She remembers her career as a school teacher, her employment for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and writing about the history of African Americans in the United States. Lastly, Brown talks about the research behind her publications, African Americans migrating to the western United States, and early Las Vegas history.
Oral history interview with Allin Chandler conducted by Claytee D. White on February 05, 2013 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Chandler discusses being a member of Rancho High School's first graduating class of 1962, and his career as a teacher, a principal, and Executive Director for the Clark County Association of School Administrators.