From the Lincy Institute "Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic" Oral History Project (MS-01178) -- Education sector interviews file.

Oral history interview with Martin Lopez-Castillo conducted by Nathalie Martinez, Elsa Lopez, and Barbara Tabach on January 11, 2020 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Martin Lopez Castillo was born in a small town in the State of Mexico. He immigrated to Phoenix, Arizona in the early '90s where he worked in construction and landscaping. Eventually, he made his way to Colorado where he began working as a cook. He moved to Las Vegas with his family in the early 2000s where he arrived in Las Vegas' Downtown. He worked in the mine by Primm, Nevada before becoming a gardener. His work has allowed him to see the changes that have happened in Southern Nevada, and he recounts the changes that have happened in Downtown Las Vegas since the 2008 recession. He is a self-taught English speaker and an avid chess collector. Subjects discussed include: Immigration, Chess, Landscaping, Teaching, and Downtown Las Vegas.

On February 13th, 1980, collector Valerie Fujii interviewed dancer, Elinor Horden, (born May 21st, 1930 in Ohio) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This interview covers local entertainment in the 1950s and the social and environmental changes that have occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gertrude (n?e Rightman) Rudiak was born in 1915 in North Dakota to Russian immigrants. She grew up in Wisconsin until 1924. That was the year the family drove to California via the Yellowstone Trail, a dusty, undeveloped road marked by yellow stones. In Los Angeles, her father practiced chiropractic, a holistic approach to well-being for which there was little knowledge at the time. Gertrude earned her music degree at University of California at Berkeley; a decision that did not lead to a career. She then attended a business college and got a job as a social worker in Northern California. In 1941, she met and soon married George Rudiak. It was the advent of World War II. George enlisted in the service and was assigned to Las Vegas Gunnery School (Nellis Air Force Base.) Since he had a law degree from University of California at Berkeley and passed the Nevada Bar exam, he found supplemental employment with local attorneys. Las Vegas became the Rudiaks? permanent home where they raised their five children. In this interview Gertrude recalls the stories of coming to live in Las Vegas of the 1940?s: their phone number was 1-2-3; the neighborhood they lived in longest being Scotch 80s and being part of the secular and Jewish communities.