In the interviews, Tilman discusses his birth in Gooding, Idaho in 1913, his early life, and his arrival to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1931. Tilman then talks about his experiences mining, milling, and ranching before moving to Las Vegas. While in Las Vegas, Tilman was involved with construction of Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) and labor issues. Later, Tilman describes fishing and boating in the Colorado River, working at a duplex mine in Searchlight, Nevada, and working at the Las Vegas Ice House. Lastly, Tilman talks about influential Boulder City residents he knew, his children, and the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino.
In this interview, Fiol discusses her experience as a a hidden child in the Holocaust and her family's history. She also talks about her involvement with the Las Vegas Holocaust survivors group.
Raymonde "Ray" Fiol is president of the Holocaust Survivors Group of Southern Nevada. A Jewish Holocaust survivor whose parents were killed in Auschwitz, Fiol was hidden by a Christian family of Resistance fighters during her childhood in Nazi-occupied Paris, France. She married American serviceman Phil Fiol and left Paris in 1957. The couple lived in New York City where she worked in inventory control. She retired to Las Vegas, Nevada around 2003 and became active in the local Holocaust Survivors Group. In 2007, she became president of the organization, which provides essential services to Holocaust survivors and helps them share their stories. Fiol is also a member of the Nevada Governor?s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust and the coordinating council of Shoah International. Her dedication to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and caring for survivors earned her the Nevada Senior Citizen of the Year award from the Nevada Delegation of the National Silver Haired Congress and the Aging Services Directors Organization in 2014, and in 2013 she was named Mensch Volunteer of the Year by the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas. In this interview, Ray reflects upon her traumatic childhood experiences, and shares how she learned details of her family?s history from a woman in France who had researched the destiny of the local Jewish community. She also discusses her involvement with the survivors group, and the positive impacts of its outreach activities, as well as goals to ensure future generations learn about, and from, the Holocaust.
In this interview, Suzie discusses growing up in Las Vegas, with a strong community of friends, particularly within Temple Beth Sholom. She also talks about her real estate career, both in residential and commercial properties, highlighting some of the successes and challenges. She describes her working relationship with Milton Schwartz, as well her time working with the Greenspuns while selling advertising at the Las Vegas Sun.
Suzie Chenin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in August of 1949. The next year, her parents, Joseph and Irene Chenin, moved the family to Las Vegas. Her father, a dentist, was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, becoming the first Jewish dentist in the state ? and only the thirtieth overall. After graduating from Las Vegas High School, Suzie attended Arizona State University. However, she quit school and moved to Los Angeles where she got a job with a large real estate developer. This was her first foray into the industry. A few years later, back in Las Vegas, Suzie got her real estate license, eventually starting her own brokerage firm, Chenin and Associates.
Gilbert Yarchever was one of nine siblings, born and bred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He describes the way his mother?s family was granted the last name of ?Kurfeersf" by Emperor Franz Joseph (of Austria-Hungary), explains the Seder (the Jewish observation of the exodus of Hebrews from Egypt), and tells what it was like to survive the Depression. Gilbert describes the jobs he held after high school and the government examination he took that led to his lifetime of adventure and travel. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1940 and kept himself busy working for the government and taking classes at George Washington University, as well as working part time at Hecht Department Store and as a freelance court reporter. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Gilbert was sent to Africa on a merchant ship, helped smuggle Jewish survivors into Jerusalem, and was assigned the task of negotiating with Arab sheikhs for laborers to build a road. In the years after that, he worked in Europe, Panama, Alaska, Japan, and Hawaii and describes many of the jobs he was responsible for and many of the individuals he met. He also married and had children, kept up with university classes whenever he could, and collected art objects and paintings. Following his retirement in 1977, Gilbert and his family came to Las Vegas and bought a condo in Regency Towers. He did some consulting work for a couple of years, and then he and his wife began traveling around the states and going abroad. He was involved with UNLV?s EXCEL program, the music department, and the Las Vegas Art Museum. (He and his second wife Edythe presented the first major exhibition on Holocaust art at the museum.) These days Gilbert often donates pieces from his art collection to churches, synagogues, and charitable organizations.
Gilbert Yarchever was in the Navy during World War II, helped smuggle Jewish refugees into Jerusalem, worked as a civil servant in many countries, and moved to Las Vegas in 1977. He helped found the EXCEL program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and was an art collector with his wife, Edythe Katz-Yarchever.
Closing lecture presented by Dr. James E. Deacon on May 17, 1974 for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Environmental Studies course "Man and the Environment." Deacon presents his students with a question of what makes "man" unique among all the creatures of the Earth and suggests that it begins with the ratio of brain to brawn. He reminds them that the course was considered as much a social science as a natural science because of the questions it had posed them, and mentions the involvement of UNLV history professor Dr. Scott Locicero. The remainder of the lecture delves more deeply into how humans learned to exploit their environment and control against hunger, predation, and disease, but without consideration for the limits of that exploitation. He closes by suggesting that the modern world may prove to be a "DIY extinction event" if humankind fails to modify its actions.
The Las Vegas African American Community Conversations is a four part, one hour round table conversation with local Las Vegans. They share their powerful stories and great history, with topics ranging from “Migration, Civil Rights, Education, Church, Entertainment and the Early Legal Community”. Part Four: A conversation about “ Early African American Legal Community” MODERATOR- Rachel Anderson (Professor-UNLV Boyd School of Law) PANELISTS- Michael L. Douglas (Justice-Supreme Court of Nevada) Karen Bennett (Justice- Las Vegas Justice Court) Booker Evans (Greenberg Traurig, LLP) John R. Bailey ( Attorney/Managing Partner Bailey Kennedy) Timothy C. Williams (Justice-District Court)