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Hailing from Indiana and California, Donna Guiffre Martin and Tom Martin came to Las Vegas in the early 1950s as their parents sought new opportunities. Donna's father, Gus Guiffre, quickly established himself as a local television personality, while Tom's father took on a variety of entrepreneurial opportunities. Like many of the young people in Las Vegas, Donna and Tom enjoyed riding around town; horse-back riding; football games; Helldorado - and, of course, Rancho High School. This interview covers both Donna and Tom's early years before their moves to Las Vegas, as well as their memories of first homes, childhood experiences, early adulthood and their current lives.
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Jackie, n?e Brooks, Boiman was born in Brooklyn and raised in Levittown, New York. Although Jackie recalls her family?s Jewish observance as far less than strict, her religious connection began in the Levittown Jewish Center Sunday School and under the close relationship she had with her grandmother, who kept kosher and inspired her to do so. In her early twenties, Jackie worked in data reduction at Grumman Aerospace Corporation and the space program; was married and had her only child, Andee. After twelve years of marriage, Jackie divorced and relocated to Las Vegas, where her parents had moved earlier. In Las Vegas, job opportunities for a single mother were scant. Then after months of searching, she found her first job as a part time secretary for Temple Beth Sholom. Over the course of the next nearly fifteen years, Jackie would go on to work with almost every congregation and temple in Las Vegas, developing their youth programs and contributing to the growth of each one for 15 years. After a brief retirement, she had gone back to work as the first administration person for Touro University. In this interview, Jackie discusses at length her involvement with each of the temples, her experiences with being a single mother and living below the poverty line. She shares how her life has been changed through trials and tribulations but how her faithfulness and commitment to her mission had led her to the success she has today.
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In this interview, Mike and Susan Baller reflect upon their lives in Las Vegas, from growing up as teenagers amongst the tight-knit Jewish community, to mob influence on the city, and the impact of the city's growth. Mike shares stories about first arriving in Las Vegas to live, being a teenaged busboy at Binions Horseshoe to being related to Moe Dalitz -- in Michigan Mike drove a truck for the Dalitz dry cleaning business.
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In 2014, Charlene, n?e Friedkin, Herst retired from her state government career, settled into volunteer work, being a mother and grandmother, and being a grant writer for others. After thirteen years in Carson City, she came back home to Las Vegas. Charlene was eight years old when her parents, Patricia and Richard Friedkin, moved their family to Las Vegas from northern California. She remembers vividly the hot day that they arrived and moved into a rental house in the desert across from Woodlawn Cemetery. Her father, formerly in the grocery business, found work at Vegas Village. Two years later they moved ?into Las Vegas at the very edge?which was Oakey.? She recalls people she has known since those first years who have been instrumental in the growth of Las Vegas; the challenges of being a divorced single mother of four; and the career path that began with an invitation from Gene Greenberg to apply for a part time position at Channel 3, where he was sales manager. At Channel 3 she quickly went from part time to full-time. She started the Community Projects Board, which brought together nonprofit organizations together at the studio in the 1980s to identify and develop marketing campaigns that addressed social issues in the community. Initiatives included Baby Your Baby and Smoking Stinks. While working for Channel 3, she also attended UNLV and received a communications degree in 1995. In 1997 she worked at Sierra Health Services in public relations. Then in October 2001, Charlene started her career in state government as the Nevada State Health Division?s Manager of the Tobacco Program. Over the course of her thirteen year career with the state, she was promoted to positions that continued her dedication to improving the quality of life of all Nevadans. She was instrumental in the implementation of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act (2006); improving prevention services to women; reducing the rate of substance use and abuse in the state. The date of her retirement, October 10, 2014, was officially proclaimed in honor of Charlene Herst by Governor Brian Sandoval.
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Michael Jay Shane is a natural musician and entertainer. Born in New York City in 1961, Shane is a graduate of the famous High School of Performing Arts, and later attend Peabody Conservatory of Music, before leaving to launch his musical entertainment career full-time. Shane has had a varied and full career ever since as a musical entertainer, working as emcee, comedian, voiceover actor, and musician, showcasing the piano, guitar, saxophone, clarinet as well as vocals. He moved to Las Vegas in 1995, and jobs have included playing the piano at Wynn?s Tower Suite Bar, Bootlegger, and currently, Italian American Club. In this interview, Shane shares about his family and a childhood filled with music. He discusses his career trajectory, and the influence Judaism has had in his upbringing and work. He details differences between working in New York City and Las Vegas, what makes Las Vegas unique for any musician or musical entertainer, and talks about changes in the local entertainment scene since corporations took over the gaming industry. He also shares stories about his career, including working with Jerry Lewis and following Andrew Dice Clay?s standup act.
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Interview with Elaine Galatz by Barbara Tabach on April 22, 2015. In this interview, Galatz talks about growing up in Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin where she was an English major and active in Hillel and the Sigma Delta Tau sorority. She met her husband, Neil, while traveling through Las Vegas on several occasions, and sparks finally flew when she visited him in Tucson on a whim. She describes Neil's background in law, moving to Las Vegas together, and her job teaching second grade. She describes the small Jewish community in the 1960 including the Katzes, Brookmans, Freys, Molaskys and Greenspuns, and the current direction of the Jewish Federation. Galatz discusses raising her children, some of the cases that Neil worked on, their group of friends, and her love of horses.
Elaine Galatz was raised on a farm outside Madison, Wisconsin. Her father was a Russian immigrant father and her mother a young American born bride. Her father died when she was a teenager and her mother remarried a man who enjoyed gambling and that would lead her to first encounter with Las Vegas. Las Vegas would coincidentally become the center of her life when she and her husband of 51 years, Neil Galatz moved here in 1961. Elaine taught school briefly and worked in Neil's successful law firm for a number of years. Neil was a significant litigator in the MGM fire and PEPCON explosion cases. The couple also shared in the growth of Las Vegas Jewish community. Elaine served as Jewish Federation president, the second woman to hold that office. Among their favorite shared family activities was a love of Morgan horses, which continues to present day for Elaine.
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In this interview, members of Midbar Kodesh discuss how they each became involved in the synagogue, and how the congregation formed in the mid-1990s. Some of the narrators grew up in Las Vegas and talk about the growth of the town and being former members of Temple Beth Sholom.
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This ability to greet each day with a challenge has laid the foundation for a long history of success for Elaine McNamara as she has navigated through local beauty pageants, an illustrious real estate career, serving on the Las Vegas-Clark County Library board during their decade of expansion to authorship. Her story of resilience starts when she became ill at approximately seven or eight with erythema nodosum that impeded her ability to walk for five months when she started collecting pictures of movie stars. Her favorite movies were any of Roy Rogers, Abbott and Costello, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Her family moved to Las Vegas, where she attended Las Vegas High School as well as UNLV majoring in elementary education and minoring in language arts. While she attended high school, she studied modeling in the evenings to help overcome her shyness and to become more outgoing. Becoming more involved with local and state beauty pageants, she met the likes of Phyllis Diller, Natalie Wood,
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