On March 1st, 1981, Glorialyn Gutierrez interviewed Emily McKinley (b. April 28, 1930 in Las Vegas, Nevada) about her life in the Las Vegas Valley. McKinley begins by speaking about her childhood, her siblings and her extended family. McKinley gives a variety of anecdotes about being raised in Las Vegas, her family’s economic hardships and the house she grew up in. Lastly, McKinley talks about the businesses she owned with her husband, their hardships and her time working multiple jobs.
On March 3, 1975, Kamal Wilhelm interviewed Eldon G. Cooper (born 1922 in Overton, Nevada) about his experiences in Southern Nevada. Also present are Cooper’s wife and several unnamed adults in the background. Cooper first talks about his background and his eventual move to Las Vegas before describing the recreational activities in which he and his family took part. He later describes the atomic testing, environmental changes, modes of transportation, social changes, and tourism in Las Vegas. Cooper also discusses the Stewart Ranch, and his wife describes the setting of multiple photographs taken of properties in the Downtown Las Vegas area.
On an unknown date (likely 1999-2000) and time, K.J. Evans interviewed Ralph Denton, an adviser to former Governor Grant Sawyer and political figure in Nevada for many years. Denton first talks about his personal friendship with Sawyer, their education in law school, and his eventual work on campaigning for and working with Sawyer after he became governor. Denton then explains the controversy regarding Denton’s accepting of complimentary services (comps) at hotels. He later describes his work as a Clark County Commissioner and then talks about working as district attorney in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Denton then talks about the influences that led him to be interested in a career of law and later speaks more about working with Grant Sawyer, specifically about serving as his adviser, afterwards providing the argument on why he believes Sawyer was the greatest governor of Nevada. Toward the latter part of the interview, Denton describes his work on improving civil rights and some of the challenges that came with that. The two also discuss how the practice of law has changed over time. To conclude the interview, Denton describes his experience in running for governor and how he would have served as governor if he had been elected.
Interviewed by Joanne L. Goodwin. Gail Spaulding (Jaros) was born on October 16, 1937, in Cicero, Illinois. a suburb of Chicago. Both of her parents were in show business. Gail began tap and ballet lessons when she was five years old. She signed as a dancer with Moro-Landis Productions in 1956, and she worked for that company at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the Riverside Hotel and Casino in Reno, and the Beverly Hills Country Club in Covington, Kentucky. Gail was promoted to line captain and did choreography at the Beverly Hills Country Club. She stopped dancing shortly before her daughter was born and worked as a cocktail waitress at the Riverside Hotel and Casino and at the Mapes Hotel in Reno. In 1964 she moved back to Las Vegas, trained in real estate, became general sales manager and corporate broker for Realty Executives in Las Vegas and later worked as an associate with Dyson and Dyson Real Estate in Indian Wells, California.
On February 9, 1980, collector Stephen M. Singer interviewed schoolteacher, Lomie Heard (born January 22nd, 1906 in Carlsbad, New Mexico) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers education over the span of thirty years, and includes an overview on the building of the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Also discussed during this interview: Nellis Air Force Base, jet airplanes at Nellis, military families, and the Nevada Test Site.
William Dean Whitaker was born in 1925 and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Dean, as he is known, talks briefly about his parents and his brothers, for his youth quickly ended when he joined the Air Force and became an aviation cadet once he had turned 18 years old. The year was 1943 and World War II was raging. He became a member of the 398 th Bomb Group and flew twenty missions before being captured by the Germans. In this oral history, Dean talks with vivid recollection of the day he was captured and details of being a POW in Germany. Among his anecdotes are those of his mother's unwavering belief that he would return home, the humanity of a German soldier, and of meeting Gen. George Patton. Included are photos and excerpts from his personal history of his life during the war. Dean and his wife Lucille moved to Las Vegas in 1990.