Thomas Nartker was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, and most of his family, including three brothers and a sister, still live there. He attended grade school and high school there, and then attended the University of Dayton. He majored in chemical engineering, following the example of his father, who had a degree in electrical engineering. By the time he was a sophomore in college, he was six-foot nine and had spent some time on the basketball court, but when asked to play his senior year at U. of D., he declined. He had already been accepted for graduate study at the University of Tennessee. Thomas finished all course work and research on his master's in one year, everything but the thesis. He interviewed over 30 companies before he graduated, but an interview with DuPont in Delaware made him think about the value of a PhD in his line of work. He applied and was accepted at Texas A&M. He worked with Dave Billingsley, who was the resident computer expert, and Dave showed him how to process all the data he had collected for his master's thesis on the IBM 650. Tom had found a new passion. Within a year, Tom was working as an assistant in the data processing center at Texas A&M, and was also the teaching assistant for the computer programming class. After completing his PhD, which took 6 years, Thomas began interviewing again. He accepted a position at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMIMT) as assistant professor of mathematics and director of the computing center. He left NMIMT in 1981 and took a job with Shell Oil Company, which included 5 years as a visiting staff member at Los Alamos. In 1985 he met John Werth, who ultimately offered Tom a job at UNLV. Tom made the move to Las Vegas in July of 1985. Dr. Nartket and Dr. Taghva started the UNLV Information Science Research Institute and did experimental research on Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for the Department of Energy (DOE). They invented many metrics never seen before, including a metric called Nonstop Word Accuracy. Today UNLV is known worldwide for being the premier center for doing research in OCR technology. Thomas is in his seventies today and continues with his research and teaching because he loves it. He has enjoyed over two decades at UNLV and finds it a rewarding and intellectual place to be. He considers this university to be one of the most exciting in the country as it grows in research and service.

Part of an interview with D. D. Cotton by Claytee White on February 14, 1997. Cotton discusses challenges faced by women dealers and her work as a dancer and dealer in a number of casinos.

The Atomic Liquors bar sits at 927 Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Sheet.
Site address: 927 Fremont St
Sign owner: 100 10th Street LLC
Sign details: Property sold by Lance Johns to 100 10th Street LLC in 2014 for $3,480,000. Recent addition to property in 2017 (927 Fremont Street).
Sign condition: 3 - Decent: neon in great condition, paint chipping off and some bulbs not repaired
Sign form: Directional Monument sign, back to back "Double sided"
Sign-specific description: Uses directional tool of an arrow, has chasing animation in the arrow with incandescent bulbs. It has blade like additions to it for the word "Liquor" and "Cocktails", each word on its own blade which are parallel to the ground, they are painted red. The word "Atomic" sits on the top in a comic style "blast" shaped bubble painted yellow. "Packaged liquors" and "Cold beer" painted on the base structure of the sign. Bulbs glow yellow, "Liquor" glows blue, "Cocktails" glows red, "Atomic" is not lit.
Sign - type of display: Neon and incandescent
Sign - media: Steel
Sign animation: Chaser effect with bulbs
Sign environment: Property surrounded by other bars/clubs and motels.
Sign - date of installation: c. 1952
Sign - artistic significance: 1950s atomic testing theme - popular due to test sight 65 miles north of city
Survey - research locations: Bar website, www.roadarch.com, owner
Surveyor: Danny Jacobs
Survey - date completed: 2017-08-12
Sign keywords: Neon; Incandescent; Steel; Chasing; Directional; Monument sign; Back to back; Fascia; Floating Mount Letters