Oral history interview with Matthew Montalto conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on September 5, 2024 for the UNLV Remembers: an Oral History of the 6 December 2023 Shootings project. In this interview, Montalto begins by describing his childhood in Las Vegas, after his family moved here from Anchorage, Alaska when he was five. Montalto graduated in 2000, and completed nearly one year at UNLV before a medical condition forced him to withdraw. For the next 14 years, Montalto worked various office jobs before realizing he wanted a college degree. In 2019, UNLV awarded him his B.A. degree in English and Creative Writing, and he soon found work in the Department of Anthropology. On December 6, 2023, he and his husband, Jose, parked on Maryland Parkway in front of Flora Dungan Hall (FDH); before saying goodbye, they made plans to meet for lunch in the Student Union. Montalto talks about his pride that UNLV didn't hire the shooter, and that through this, he and UNLV have "become better versions" of themselves. He describes therapy, support systems, and the power of gaming narrative story groups. He mentions the school shooting in Winder, Georgia in the context of the Columbine High School and Sandy Hook shootings. He learned he is more stable in a crisis than he knew, and he performs well under pressure. Digital audio and transcript available.
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Interview with Gil Cohen by Claytee White on August 5, 2015. In this interview, Cohen discusses growing up in Las Vegas and attending University of Nevada at Reno. He returned to Las Vegas to join the management training program at the Stardust. He talks about his friendships with Moe Dalitz and Carl Cohen, and his interest in golfing. He also discusses corporate ownership of casinos, unions, and his experiences working at different Strip hotels.
Gil Cohen came to Las Vegas in 1957, when was ten years old, when his father, Yale Cohen, was recruited by Moe Dalitz to work at the Stardust Hotel and Casino. Cohen graduated from University of Nevada Reno, and started working at the Stardust through the management-training program. In 1975, he was made hotel manager, his first of many leadership positions in Strip properties, which have included the Dunes, Aladdin, Hacienda and Monte Carlo, where he currently works as a casino host.
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In 1943, Cleophis Hill Williams was a teenager visiting her mother who had moved to Las Vegas. For most of her young life she had lived with her parents in Muskogee, Oklahoma and Paul Spur/Douglas, Arizona. The same year that she visited Las Vegas, she met her future husband Tom Williams, with whom she had nine children, all born and raised on the Westside. Tom worked construction and built their first home on G Street. For Cleophis, she focused her life on raising her children and, whenever possible, finding some precious time to read.
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