Otis R. Harris Jr. was born May 19, 1941 to Otis R. Harris Sr. and Florence Harris. In the early 1940s, after an argument with a white person, Otis Harris's father decided to relocate from Texas to California. During the trip west, he stopped in Las Vegas where they were hiring at the Basic Magnesium plant. Though he only worked there briefly, Las Vegas became home to the Harris family. In this interview, Otis talks about his father's hard working nature and being raised with seven siblings in Las Vegas.
Wilma (Frank) Bass (1939- ) is a retired Las Vegas, Nevada jewelry salesperson. Born and raised in New York, New York, Bass graduated from high school around 1958. She married Burt Bass in 1960 and the family moved to Las Vegas in the 1974.
Gilbert Shaw, better known as Gil, is an original member of Congregation Ner Tamid, a Reform synagogue in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shaw was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the US Navy and became a combat correspondent and was trained as a journalist and photographer. In 1973 Shaw and his family moved to Los Vegas, Nevada where he took on a sales position and eventually became a regional manager for Familian Pipe and Supply Company.
Gene Collins was born to Gertha and Isaac Collins in Lake Providence, Louisiana. Gene's mother relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1950's with his sisters but Gene stayed in Louisiana with his grandparents until college and then migrated to Las Vegas in 1966. Gene and his family lived in West Las Vegas which at the time was a thriving community due to segregation on the Strip. Gene worked as an operator's engineer at the Nevada Test Site and later trained as an engineer.
Lamar Marchese was born December 11, 1943 in Tampa, Florida. Marchese and his wife, Patricia, graduated from the University of Southern Florida and relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1972.
Melissa Lemoine (1970- ) is a teacher at Doral Academy of Nevada and the coordinator of the NextGen program at Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, Nevada. She also teaches b’nai mitzvah, conversion, and Hebrew School classes at Ner Tamid. Born March 22, 1970, Lemoine arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1974 and has actively participated in the Jewish community since a young age.