After serving as a nurse in World War II in Hawaii, Okinawa and Japan, Dorothy returned home to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She experienced a particularly bad winter and she set out for California but stopped in Las Vegas to visit the family of her traveling companion, a girlfriend from her home town. The girlfriend returned to Wisconsin and George applied for a nursing license and got it within three days. She never left. Dorothy met her husband while working the night shift at Clark County Hospital. He would come in regularly to assist his patients in the births of their babies. Their occupations and their service in World War II drew them together in a marriage that has lasted over fifty years. From 1949 to this interview in 2003, Dorothy George has seen Las Vegas grow from a town that she loved to a metropolitan area that is no longer as friendly. She reminisces about the Heldorado parades, family picnics at Mount Charleston, watching the cloud formed by the atomic bomb tests, raising six successful children, leading a Girl Scout Troop, and working in organizations to improve the social and civic life of Las Vegas.
First arriving in Las Vegas as an infant, Cheryl Leonard's young life included a brief sojourn in Southern California before returning to Las Vegas in 1954. After attending local elementary and middle schools, she started at Rancho High during the day, and working at the Huntridge theater in the evenings and during the summers. More than just work, though - in this interview, Cheryl recalls school activities from parades to pep club, participating in Helldorado, hanging out with her friends at the Blue Onion and shopping on Fremont Street. After graduation, Cheryl returned to California to attend school before coming back to Las Vegas and taking a job with the Central Telephone Company. This was followed by a brief stint working at the Nevada Test Site before she married in 1964 and concentrated on raising her own daughters in a rapidly growing and changing Las Vegas.
On March 18, 1978, collector Bill Hitchcock interviewed Della Coates (b. June 17th, 1919 in Birmingham, Alabama) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the interview, Della Coates discusses her time working for the telephone company. She also speaks about the changes in education and about changes throughout Las Vegas.
Oral history interview with Laura Sussman conducted by Barbara Tabach and Claytee D. White on March 15, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Laura Sussman, co-owner of Kraft-Sussman Funeral & Cremation Services, discusses the funeral home's role during the aftermath of the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada mass shooting. She talks about the collaborated efforts of the funeral home and the coroner's office to care for the deceased, giving some details on the role of a coroner and the specific cases the funeral home was in charge of. Along with the victims, she discusses the potential cremation they were asked to do of the shooter. Throughout the interview, Sussman emphasizes the funeral home's goal of providing support to the families of the deceased.
Congregation Bet Knesset Bamidbar or ‘Congregation in the Desert” is the largest age 50-and-over Jewish congregation in the Las Vegas Valley. It was founded in 1990 and meets in Sun City, Summerlin. BKB is a traditional reform temple.
With services in the heart of community, BKB grew under the leadership of Rabbi Hershel Brooks. Its membership peaked to over 1,100 members in 1999.
Oral history interview with Deryk and Melissa Engelland conducted by Barbara Tabach on May 23, 2019 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project.
Deryk Engelland is a professional hockey player and team spokesperson for the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas. He and his wife, Melissa, discuss the events of the October 1 shooting and how the Golden Knights chose to honor the community that they were representing after this tragic event. Deryk and Melissa Engelland established the Vegas Born Foundation to honor first responders and community heroes, and the couple talks about the organization's accomplishments since its inception.
On February 10, 1975, Ruth Guidi interviewed George Gilbert (born 1931 in Southgate, California) about his life in Nevada. George first talks about his education in Las Vegas and his family background. He also talks about times during World War II, the shopping facilities available to those in Las Vegas, the casinos that existed, the churches that were built, and the Helldorado parades. The two also discuss social clubs, politics, the atomic testing, environmental and social changes, the Mormon Fort, Hoover Dam, and the first movie theaters.
Oral history interview with Danny Cluff conducted by Claytee D. White on December 8, 2017 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Danny Cluff discusses his attendance at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the evening of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada with his friends and nephew. He talks of finding safety in Hooters with other survivors from the concert. When speaking of gun control, he discusses his perspectives on human nature, citing his experiences during and after the concert shooting. Throughout the interview, Cluff speaks of the ways he has healed and kept positive after the shooting, such as laughing through the hard times and writing poetry, of which he gives a few samples.