Oral history interview with Lupe Avelar conducted by Marcela Rodriguez-Campo and Maribel Estrada Calderón for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Lupe Avelar describes her life growing up in Durango, Mexico on a family farm and her immigration to New Mexico as a teen with her brother before returning back to Mexico. Lupe talks about her marriage to Eladio Avelar and how the couple eventually moved to California as well as her circumstances of moving to Las Vegas. Subjects discussed include: cotton fields; cotton farming.
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Dr. Tom Wright was born and grew up in Illinois. His father finished his PhD in Chicago and then taught at Illinois College in Jacksonville. His mother suffered from arthritis and was told to seek a warmer climate, so John Wright packed up his family and moved to Las Vegas. Tom was 14, ready for high school, and his two brothers were elementary school age. Tom attended Las Vegas High School, which was close to the Crestwood community where the family had purchased their first home. He remembers that UNLV had no buildings when his dad first started teaching there. Instead, he conducted class in high school classrooms and church Sunday school rooms. Dr. Wright started off at a community college as a Geology Major, but a class with Bud Poland convinced him that history was his passion. He transferred to Pomona to continue his bachelor's degree. He spent his junior year in Peru on a study-abroad program, and that experience made him a Latin Americanist. The information he gath
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Interview with Myra Berkovits by Barbara Tabach on August 21, 2014. In this interview, Berkovits talks about growing up and starting her teaching career in Chicago. When she moves to Las Vegas, Berkovits eventually purchases a dining concierge business, but returned to teaching, and is now involved with the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center.
Myra Berkovits was born Myra Mosse in 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. She became an elementary school teacher in Chicago before moving to Las Vegas in 1980. Myra has made contributions to Las Vegas in the public and private sectors. She owned several businesses then returned to teaching, heading to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to renew her teaching license and later received her master's degree. After a year of teaching in multicultural education, Myra was then in charge of the school district's homeless program, seeing its growth from serving 1,200 to 6,000 students. Myra's other passion was for Holocaust education and she became one of six interviewers in the city for the Shoah Foundation, documenting survivors' stories. One interviewee, David Berkovits, would later become her husband of fifteen years. Myra's own Holocaust education was aided by powerful trips to Israel and Poland. She used these experiences to develop and lead student-teacher conferences and classroom curriculum for the whole state. Myra still serves at the Education Specialist at the Holocaust Resource Center.
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Kerin Rodgers owned a retail fashion store and modeling agency with a friend in Santa Monica, California. She came to Las Vegas in 1966 to work at The Broadway department store. She bought a home in the John S. Park Neighborhood in 1974. Popular radio personality; active in local and national politics.
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Oral history interview with Pablo Macias conducted by Elsa Lopez, Monserrath Hernandez, and Claytee D. White on December 07, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Pablo Macias was rasied in the small town of Carlin outside of Elko, Nevada. His father and mother met in Ogden, Utah where his father was working on railroad in Nevada and Utah. After finishing high school, he got a job at Elko Blacksmith Shop, where he learned to weld. After attending Northern Nevada Community College, he enrolled and graduated from UNR. After graduation, he took a position at Von Tobel Middle School in 1990 teaching Spanish and Physical Education. While working as a Spanish teacher in Rancho High School he enrolled in a Master's program at Nova Southeastern University, completing the program in education administration. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Corporate Work Study Program Operations for Cristo Rey St. Viator College Preparatory High School. Subjects discussed include: Education, Rancho High School, Von Tobel Middle School, Barrick Mining, and Cristo Rey.
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