Oral history interview with Howard Heckethorn conducted by Richard Eitland on February 15, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Mr. Heckethorn describes going to school in the early days of Las Vegas, Nevada. He also talks about many notable teachers he had, as well as the development of the Las Vegas area. Heckethorn also discusses his arrival to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1930, and recalls the Old Mormon Fort, El Rancho, The Last Frontier, and the tourism that gambling brought to the city. Heckethorn discusses the 1960s, and the impact Howard Hughes had in the development of hotels and casinos.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ken Frejlach conducted by Chuck Williams on January 21, 2015 for the Friends of Red Rock Canyon in Nevada Oral History Project. Frejlach begins the interview by talking about his family life and how they started working on Oliver Ranch near Blue Diamond, Nevada. He describes their duties while working and the Carole Lombard plane crash site. Frejlach also talks about his mother's medical illness. He talks about his move the town of Blue Diamond, and describes his time there attending school. Lastly, he speaks more about the Oliver Ranch property.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Gaelan Felt conducted by Perry Kaufman in approximately 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Felt describes working at the Nevada Test Site and the effect the site had on Las Vegas, Nevada. Felt explains why Nevada was chosen as the location for the site, how they tested nuclear weapons, and how the local residents responded to the tests with varying levels of concern. He also talks about other aspects of the test site's history, such as workers' housing, and how Las Vegas has developed and changed.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with David Welles conducted by Patrick Carlton on March 27, 2002 for the Las Vegas Rotary Club Oral History Project. In this interview, Welles first relates his family background and the circumstances that led to the family settling in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1940s. He relates numerous anecdotes about growing up and attending school, and then explains how a back problem ended his chances for a career in the Navy and led him to consider less physically demanding fields. He took jobs surveying and drafting, which led to his decision to study architectural engineering, taking his degree at the University of Oklahoma. Meeting and marrying while he was in Oklahoma, the couple returned to Las Vegas, where he took multiple jobs at different architectural and engineering firms, gaining experience toward licensure as an architect. By the early 1970s, he had established his own firm with a partner, gaining a state contract to build elementary schools. Welles then speaks at length about partnering with the Daly Group to design and build the UNLV Lied Library and ends the interview with another extended discussion of his long-time involvement in the Rotary Club.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Junell Bowman conducted by Anna Huddleston on March 09, 2014 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Bowman begins by describing her early history as a singer in California, performing on the radio, different orchestras, and nightclubs before marrying her husband and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1958. Bowman discusses becoming a sketch artist after managing an unsuccessful business, doing portraits and caricatures of people in the casinos, at conventions, and on the Las Vegas Strip. She talks about the celebrities and entertainers she met and did caricatures for while working at casinos like the Stardust and Riviera, and the amount of work that went into being a professional sketch artist.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Sidney Lowe conducted by Claytee D. White on January 22, 2013 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Lowe begins the interview by discussing her upbringing in Alabama and South Carolina and her experiences with racial segregation and discrimination. She continues, describing places she has lived, her relationship with the father of her children, and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1982. Lowe talks about life in Las Vegas during the 1980s, obtaining a position in the James R. Dickinson Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) as a library assistant, and her education. Lowe concludes by discussing her career working for the UNLV library system and the library's function on campus.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with John F. Cahlan conducted by Larry DuRussel on July 02, 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Cahlan discusses how Las Vegas, Nevada was developed, how Nellis Air Force Base was built and its purposes, and how water was originally supplied to Las Vegas. Cahlan also mentions the various Hollywood stars he met during his career as a journalist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Cahlan lastly discusses atomic testing conducted in Nevada.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Calvin Leavitt conducted by Patricia van Betten on March 09, 2007 for the History of the Blue Diamond Village in Nevada Oral History Project. Leavitt discusses his birth in Mesquite, Nevada at his family's dairy farm, and goes into detail about his schooling in Mesquite. Leavitt describes his family's dairy farm and their conversion from a Grade B to a Grade A farm. He then details his summers spent working odd jobs at the Blue Diamond mine in the summers of 1950 and 1951. Leavitt primarily discusses his outdoor hobbies, namely hunting, fishing, trapping, and rockhounding. He also describes his reasons for moving to Blue Diamond in 1995.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Christine Szukala conducted by Bridgette Foote on November 12, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Christine shares her family history and the story of her Thai mother and American Air Force father who met in Thailand and married before moving to the United States in 1970. She talks about her upbringing in Las Vegas, Nevada near Nellis Air Force base with her six siblings. Christine discusses her beliefs of how her newly immigrated mother adapted to American life, including altering her recipes to fit her husband's taste and reducing her visits to nearby Buddhist temples.
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Oral history interview with Thalia Dondero conducted by Mary Germain on March 13, 1976 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Dondero discusses being a leader for the Girl Scouts, and how some of those experiences led her to get involved in politics. Dondero also mentions her work with National Geographic and working with oil paintings and watercolors. Dondero then recalls her work as a commissioner for Clark County, Nevada and some of the challenges she has faced.
Archival Collection