Helen J. Stewart real estate documents

Lori provides a wonderful narrative of her Judaism, her love of teaching children and her devotion to family and music. She talks about growing up in Las Vegas and becoming a bat mitzvah, a rarity for girls in 1973. Throughout her life, including the period where she moved around with her Air Force husband, she sought Jewish connections to help her feel at home no matter where she was.

At the age of thirteen, the incredible life journey of Stephen “Pista” Nasser (b. 1931 - ) is preserved in his heart. His ordeal begins when his family are ripped from their home to be interred in a Nazi concentration camp in 1944. Fifty years later, he sits in his Las Vegas home and reflects on his calling to write and speak about his survival and losses. His ordeal is preserved in his book My Brother’s Voice (2013) and in his follow up stage production Not Now Pista. He is also the author of a companion memoir, Journey to Freedom. Stephen and his wife Francoise are tireless in their travels throughout the United States and the world. At the time of this 2018 oral history interview, Stephen had done over 1092 presentations about his harrowing life story to thousands of people of all ages and denominations. Each presentation fills a spot in his heart as he honors his brother and reminds listeners that such devastating episode in history should not be forgotten, and should never occur again. The timing of this interview also coincided with the premiere of a 20-minute documentary based on his writings and the play production. It was shown at the 2018 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival. Note: the photo above of Stephen and Francoise Nasser was taken shortly after this interview on their next cruise. (2018)

On February 26, and 27, 1980, Maylene C. Cabatingan interviewed Evelyn Miller McDonald (born 1905 in Alderson, West Virginia) about her life in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also present during the interview is Maylene’s step-father (name unknown) who occasionally participates in the conversation. At the time of the interview, McDonald had lived in Nevada for over seventy-two years and described early Las Vegas as a small-town railroad community with few amenities. McDonald discusses her occupational history, and how her father started the first car garage in Las Vegas. She goes on to talk about the impact of the Great Depression on Las Vegas and how Hoover Dam’s construction reduced the severity of the financial depression in comparison to other cities. She then recites the hotels that were built and the appeal that Vegas had to tourists and divorcees. McDonald later discusses how prostitution was accepted by the community, and recalls a story about how local businessmen rallied together to ensure that a minister would preach the funeral for a young woman who had died, despite being a prostitute. McDonald concludes her interview with a brief discussion of her goals in life and her pride in her daughters.

On March 1, 1979, John L. Bennett interviewed Dan Hill (born May 20, 1914 in Illinois) in his home at 2130 Walnut Road, Las Vegas, Nevada, about his memory of Southern Nevada. In addition to the collector and informant, there is an unidentified woman present during the interview. Hill explains that he originally came to Nevada in search of work. He briefly moved to Europe during the First World War where he served in the Army; at the end of the war, Hill returns to Las Vegas to work at the Nevada Test Site. Hill then goes in-depth about his experience as a worker at the Nevada Test Site and different mining sites that he had also worked at. The two briefly discuss the different sheriffs that had been in charge of Las Vegas, and how many people came to Las Vegas to work at the Henderson Magnesium Plant and Hoover Dam in addition to the Nevada Test Site.