Interviewed by Barbara Tabach. Born in Mexico, Francisco was a child when his father received permission to immigrate to the US with his younger children. Upon graduating from high school in California, he moved to Las Vegas where one of his sisters lived. It was 1994 and jobs were plentiful; he would find his way through several positions. Then in early 2000 he was hired to be a dishwasher, on the graveyard, at the recently opened Paris Hotel. It was a Culinary Union job; by 2002 he was a shop steward and finding better positions at Paris. He continues to work at the Paris Hotel as a fry cook. In 2008, he was a citizen and proudly voted in his first presidential election.

Born in the coal fields of Strunk, Kentucky, Audrey Aline Messer Wickman first visited the West at twelve years of age. She moved to western Colorado to help in her grandparents’ home for a couple of years. The stay made a lasting impression because she only returned to her birthplace for a short time after that. In Colorado, she graduated from high school, met her future husband, and married in 1925. They came to southern Nevada in 1932 so that Robert Wickman could find work on Hoover Dam. Audrey Wickman joined the Mesquite Club in 1936 and has remained a member to date. She started the Literary Committee as a forum to share book reviews and hear speakers. She served as President of the club for 1947-48 and chose the year’s theme “Know your Neighbor.” In the post-war society, women’s involvement in civic affairs was particularly needed, she told the membership at the opening fall meeting. “The troubles which unsettle the world today are primarily ones which lie within the sphere of women’s business. They are matters of housekeeping, teaching and health. . . . The time has come when we as a nation cannot stay in our own backyards. . . . If we are to be good world citizens, local, state and national, we must first be good home citizens. These responsibilities call for knowledge, an appreciation of other points of view, and attitudes of good will and cooperation.” (Las Vegas Review Journal, 6 October 1947, Mesquite Club microfilm collection.) The duties of the president varied during those years. She recalled that “I was janitor, gardener and President.” During the wintertime, she remembered, “you had to have heat [for Friday’s meeting] and I’d go up on Thursday afternoon and light that old oil burning stove and then pray that it didn’t catch the place on fire all night.” She continued her commitment to club work by serving as state secretary for the Nevada Federation of Women’s Clubs. The friendships and cultural events which came from Mesquite Club and Federation membership proved to be of lasting value for this community builder. This interview has been produced with the assistance of the Mesquite Club and the History Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It is part of a series on women community builders in Las Vegas. The transcript has been edited only slightly for clarity while the syntax and style of the narrator were retained.

On May 8, 1976, James Thomas Griffin interviewed former casino dealer Midge Innis (born September 23rd, 1928 in Neligh, Nebraska) in her apartment in Las Vegas, Nevada about her life in Southern Nevada. The two discuss her occupational history as well as how she met her husband. The interview concludes Innis’ thoughts on environmental and social shifts in Las Vegas.

On March 2, 1980, collector Krista Jenkins interviewed assistant manager, Sally L. Jackson, (born March 28th, 1932 in Culver City, California) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The interview covers the social and environmental changes that have occurred in Las Vegas. Sally also discusses the hospitality industry and offers details on the local hotels, casinos, and nightclubs in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On February 28, 1980, Paul Gentle interviewed Luella Knuckles (b. 1910 in Impolla, Texas) about life as an African-American in Las Vegas, Nevada. Knuckles talks to Gentle about the conditions that African-Americans lived in and the discrimination they faced when first arriving to the city. Knuckles, in particular, spends a portion of the interview discussing the segregated layout of Las Vegas and the jobs and opportunities that were available for the black community in a segregated town. Moreover, she provides anecdotes about her deceased husband’s employment, their experience buying and repairing a property by themselves, and the changes in attitudes as the city desegregated. The conversation later focuses on the Church’s place in the African-American community, education and participation in church activities, and Knuckle’s personal love for books and Bible study.

Ivory H. Blue II was born and raised Las Vegas, specifically in the Westside neighborhood projects during the 1980s and 1990s. He describes his early childhood and what he remembers as a strong sense of community. Though grade school had its challenges, Ivory excelled in sciences and came under the watchful mentoring of Dr. Eugene McGaugh, a professor at UNLV. Ivory graduated with a master’s degree and has a long career already with NV Energy. Theresa Harris, Ivory’s mother, was from Hawthorne, Nevada and his father, Ivory Blue I, was originally from Edwards, Mississippi.

On March 6, 1977, Ronald Robinson interviewed Mary Ellen Campbell (born 1886 in Panaca, Nevada) about her life in Nevada. Campbell first talks about her parents’ move to the United States from England and her own life growing up in Panaca. She also talks about living in Pioche and the conditions of living in these two small Nevada towns. Also present during the interview is Mary’s grandson, Allen Campbell, who sometimes asks a few questions as well.