Geoconda Arguello Kline is the first female Secretary Treasurer of the Culinary Union Local 226. She got there the hard way. Beginning as a maid, then union organizer, director, ten years as President, and then the in 2012, she attained the highest office in the local. Arguello Kline left Nicaragua in 1979 as a political refugee and settled in Miami. The wages there did not allow her to take care of her family so she moved to Las Vegas following family members who had taken union jobs upon their arrival. She joined as well and worked as a guest room attendant for eight years. After becoming an organizer, she organized and walked picket lines whenever necessary. She is adamant that striking is the last thing that workers want to do. Her longest strike and the longest one Culinary Union history was the Frontier. The strike lasted for six years, four months, and ten days. Geoconda feels honored to be a member of the Culinary Union Local 226. ”It is a testament to our diverse and incredible members that has put me her. We undoubtedly have challenges ahead, but I’m confident that we will overcome by working as a union.” I’m sure that this quote by her in 2012 holds true today.
On March 18, 1978, Susan Scott interviewed Thalia Dondero (born 1921 in Greeley, Colorado) about her experiences in Nevada and more specifically about her work as a Clark County Commissioner. Dondero first speaks about her background and the circumstances which led her to move to Las Vegas. She also talks about her children, her work with the Parent-Teacher Association, and her service with the Nevada State Park Commission. She also mentions some of her lobbying work for the development of state parks, including a project by National Geographic in which she visited multiple parks, and she later describes the development of the Las Vegas Strip. At the end of the interview, Dondero talks about her involvement in various organizations, her consideration for running for governor, and some of the topics she handles as a commissioner for the county.
Betty Blevins was born in the small town of Berry, Alabama. She graduated from high school there in 1953 and then went on to nurses' training at the University of Alabama School of Nursing in Birmingham. She recalls the segregated wards, emergency rooms, and drinking fountains at the university hospital when she worked there in the fifties and early sixties. Betty's husband was hired at the Nevada Test Site as a journeyman electrician in 1963 and they moved to Las Vegas with their two children. Betty remembers living near Desert Inn Road and the Boulder Highway and taking her two older daughters to the Huntridge Theater on Charleston and Maryland Parkway, where they could see a movie and buy treats for fifty cents apiece. When Betty started working in Las Vegas as a nurse, there were only two hospitals, Sunrise and the old Memorial Hospital (now UMC). She was hired at Sunrise Hospital and describes the layout, recalls some of the surgeons she worked with, and offers up anecdotes of life in the O.R. Her third daughter was born at Sunrise as well. Betty eventually worked at Memorial and Valley View Hospitals, and ended up back at Sunrise. She recalls assisting during the first open-heart surgery with Dr. Ficus and the first corneal transplant with Dr. Shearing. Ms. Blevins describes the monumental changes in operating techniques and surgeon education, the installation of telephones in the O.R., the introduction of disposable sterile equipment, and the advent of computers and lasers. She recalls the first kidney harvest in which she participated, and shares examples of the humor that could be found in the hospital. She retired in the eighties and looks back on her long career with satisfaction.
Lemaire joined the Battle Mountain fire department in 1960. He served as chief of the department from 1975 to 1980. He then served as county commissioner.
Archival Collection
History of Emergency Medical Services in Nevada Oral History Interviews
Transcript of interview with Eugene Williams conducted by Claytee White on July 18, 2008. Williams discusses his life as a singer with various musical groups including the Coasters and the Platters, and traveling all over the United States and Europe. He left the Platters in 1990 and settled in Las Vegas. He was part of the Sound of the Platters group in the early 2000s.
Giller was raised in Reno, Nevada, where his family owned AIDS Ambulance. He worked as a dispatcher before earning his EMT certifications in the 1980s.
Archival Collection
History of Emergency Medical Services in Nevada Oral History Interviews
Peters has practiced medicine at the Battle Mountain General Hospital since 1991. He has trained military and paramilitary groups in pre-hospital care. He currently oversees the paramedic program in Battle Mountain.
Archival Collection
History of Emergency Medical Services in Nevada Oral History Interviews
Bruce Layne came to Las Vegas in March of 1955 when he was 10 years of age. He attended High school at Bishop Gorman and college at the University of Nevada Las Vegas where he received a B.S. in Economics. In college, he played baseball for three years and was named All Conference Player in 1966. Growing up in Las Vegas, two of his closest long time friends are Governor Bob Miller and Tito Tiberti. Bruce later went on to become the President of Layne & Associates Insurance which was the largest Insurance Agency in Nevada. Bruce tells fabulous stories of his 40-year experience in the Las Vegas community. When he first arrived there were only about 25,000 people living here. Since then, Bruce has been witness to the enormous growth the city has undergone. Throughout the interview, he discusses his book, My Gift, which he wrote after he discovered he had Parkinson's disease in 1999. The book contains valuable advice on life and it has touched the lives of many people who have read it. Today Bruce Layne is relentlessly fighting his battle with Parkinson's disease both for himself and for thousands of others. He continues to have a positive attitude and is supported by his wife, Sherry Layne, and his two sons, Chad and Trevor. VI