Renee Marchant Rampton has often referred to herself as "One of Fifteen." Indeed, growing up in a family of fifteen children, Renee experienced the care of loving parents, the excitement of a bustling household, and the engagement of an active Church; all amidst the strains of a depression era economy. Renee's mother, Beatrice Marchant, provided Renee with a strong role model with which to emulate; a disciplined woman, who rose to the task without hesitation. Beatrice became the family's provider after her husband's debilitating stroke and later served in the Utah Legislature during the 1970s. Renee loved music from an early age. As a young child she found an early job as a piano accompanist for a dance studio. In 1956 she married musician, Roger Rampton, a successful percussionist. They soon settled in Las Vegas, where Roger performed on the Strip and they began raising their four children. It was an exciting period in Las Vegas history as the Strip attracted musicians and

In the early summer of 1972, Patsy and Chuck Rosenberry packed the car to begin their journey from Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Las Vegas. Patsy’s two teenage children (plus a friend) crowded into the back seat as Chuck eased behind the wheel. He and Patsy had just recently married and he was taking his new family to their new home in southern Nevada. Chuck was a nuclear technologist at the Nevada Test Site and a kind, patient man that Patsy would have followed anywhere. As it turned out, Las Vegas was a wonderful fit and the family would thrive in their new hometown of Las Vegas. The children attended Valley High School; the family eventually bought into a house in the Paradise Valley area; and from 1978 to 1999 Patsy enjoyed working with a growing cardiovascular group. Chuck censored his work-talk like most Test Site employees, but Patsy recalls with pride his concern for safety and how he always felt the public did not have correct information. She also remembers the fun of partic

Patty Ann Drew’s life experiences capture large movements in Las Vegas history: mob-dominated gambling, the Helldorado Rodeo, explosive growth, medical advances, and Clark County School District’s Sixth Grade Centers—all in a desert city centered in the Mormon Culture Region. Patty arrived in Las Vegas as an infant with her parents and older brothers in 1944 and was raised in the Huntridge area, where she and her brothers attended John S. Park Elementary School and matriculated from there to Las Vegas High School. In this interview, Patty talks about her parents working on the Strip, her school days, joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marrying her high school sweetheart, and becoming a young mother in Las Vegas. After Patty married her second husband, Thomas Ross, the couple built a house west of Jones Boulevard and Patty gave birth to her third son. In addition, she returned to school to earn her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and taught at C. H. Decker Elementary School for twenty years.

As we go about our days, running errands and getting things for our households, we often don’t think too much of the story behind the commercial real estate and retail stores we frequent. Only when those stores aren’t there and the neighborhood demographic changes do we embrace the nostalgia that goes into the story of the neighborhoods where we live and shop. Hank Gordon is the man behind those memories of those shopping centers we frequent not only in the Las Vegas Valley, but in Washington, Oregon, Montana, California and Alaska as well. Gordon was raised in Los Angeles and graduated from USC in 1956, when he went to work for a home builder in the San Fernando Valley selling his houses to make some extra weekend money. It was during this time he fell in love with real estate and had to break the news to his parents that he no longer was going to be a doctor. Feeling the urge of leadership he told his mentor that he didn’t want to sell houses-he wanted to develop homes instead. Shortly after that he bought a subdivision of lots in Van Nuys and started building 7-11 and Goodyear stores in the early 1960s. In this interview, Gordon talks about building his first shopping center in 1967 and moving to the Pacific Northwest. He moved to Las Vegas in 1988, when he bought 23 new national retailers to the Valley. He was responsible for bring Home Depot in 1999 and Costco and Best Buy to some of Las Vegas’s longest-standing shopping centers; Best of the Boulevard on Maryland Parkway and Best of the West on Rainbow Boulevard. He speaks of the changes to the market after the Great Recession, how retailers are having a hard time keeping afloat because of online shopping, and his days on the planning commission for the City of Las Vegas during the 1990s, when Jan Jones was mayor. It is without a doubt that Hank Gordon is one of the best in the business and there isn’t a lot of competition at the top.

Lillian Morrison was the first uniformed female who worked for Park Service and has worked for Reclamation for 20 years during the war at Camp Williston. Morrison recalls life in Boulder City during the late 1930s and 1940s. Morrison is the wife of Lloyd Shorty Morrison.

F. Andrew Taylor has been a Las Vegas resident for over 20 years, moving to the city by way of New England and Georgia at the age of 28. Armed with a degree in painting from the Swain School of Design, got a job at a Laughlin casino as a caricature artist. After a brief stay in Laughlin and Bullhead City, Andrew moved to Ward I, where his girlfriend, now wife, lived. They soon moved to the Spring Valley area, where Andrew later learned through conversations with neighbors and his own research that the home sat on what was the old Stardust Racetrack. With Andrew’s move to the city came new professional opportunities. He got a job at CityLife as the in-house artist and graphic designer, what was then apart of Wick Communications. After a year, Andrew began reporting, initially working for the Sunrise/Whitney paper, and eventually working the downtown beat. Always feeling the pulse of the local arts and culture scene, he has attended First Fridays since it started, continues his own art,

Ernie Hensley, an accomplished African American musician, was born in Washington D.C. on March 14 1940, the son of Ernest W. Hensley Jr. and Gladys Barbara Hensley. Both of his parents worked for the federal government in the nation's capital. Ernest W. Hensley Jr., was an employee at the Department of Defense and Gladys Barbara Hensley mother, who was an excellent pianist and drum major, ultimately set her musical career aside to provide for her family and worked for the National Labor Relations board. At the age of seven, after finding a saxophone in his grandmother's attic, Ernie embarked on his musical journey. He took lessons at the Modem School of Music in Washington D.C. Eventually acquired proficiency with the clarinet and the flute through long hours of practice. Ernie attended a historically black school, Armstrong High School in D.C., until he was transferred to integrated McKinley High School in 1954 following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Ernie recalls his experience in a new desegregated environment. After High School in 1957, Ernie joined the Air Force as a member of the 511th Air Force Band. In 1959 he resettled in France to play saxophone for the Air Force Band. Emie ultimately made a career in the Air Force. He had countless experiences of performing around Europe and in Washington D.C. at places like Constitution Hall. A dream came true when Emie was honored to become a member of the "Airmen of Note," the premier jazz ensemble for the United States Air Force. He retired from the Air Force in 1979. Because of his distinguished career in the United States Air Force, Emie had a number of opportunities once he retired from the military. He moved to Las Vegas in 1979 at age 39 and after living in area for just a few weeks, Emie started working with Johnny Haig 3 nights a week. Shortly thereafter, Emie found a long-term home working with Jimmy Mulidore's group at the Hilton for nearly a decade until 1995. Throughout Ernie's lifetime he has been fortunate to work with notable musicians such as Andy Williams, Sammy Davis Jr., Somers, Juliet Prowse, Steve an Eydie and his good friend Sarah Vaughn. Emie, along with his wife Carolyn, a retired UNLV faculty member, still resides in Las Vegas.