Margaret Ostler Stout-Hall’s personality shines in this interview, in which she discusses growing up in Las Vegas’s Rancho Circle. She moved to Las Vegas with her family in 1951, when she was twelve and her father bought Las Vegas’s Seven-Up Bottling Company. She immediately found friends at John S. Park Elementary School and later at Las Vegas High School, where she became a Rhythmette. Margaret describes her Rancho Circle neighborhood, dragging Fremont Street, working at the El Portal Theater, and dancing at the Wildcat Lair. As a Rhythmette, she traveled to New York and Philadelphia to perform on the “Ed Sullivan Show” and the Elks National Convention. Stout-Hall credits Rhythmette advisor, Evelyn Stuckey, for developing a sense of confidence, belonging, and responsibility in the young women she led. It was this confidence that enabled Margaret to go to work for Harry Reid after she suffered a tragic loss. Former Rhythmettes honored Stuckey by lobbying the Clark County School District to name a school after their former mentor; the school opened in 2010.

As International Counsel to UNITE HERE, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, Richard McCracken is a true union man whose law firm represents labor. He is an independent thinker who prefers direct action rather than the strategies and negotiations of the National Labor Relations Board. This interview covers union activity in several locations throughout the country but concentrates on Nevada with stories about Las Vegas and Reno labor connections that are profound. Once which organizing in Reno after the murder of two organizers, Richard was given a spiked drink. An older, more seasoned organizer instructed him to eat a cigarette forcing him to cough up everything in his system. Very early in his career, Richard learned that direct action was better and the strategies and techniques of the National Labor Relations Board. The Culinary Workers Union’s fight with the Showboat was one of unusual direct action. The union interfered directly in a matter of with the casino’s shareholders. Union work takes courage. McCracken admires that courage in D. Taylor, Hattie Canty, Jim Arnold, and many other local union leaders. His life is also an example of that same courage, determination, and legal savvy.

Jerry Tarkanian, legendary and formidable basketball coach, met his match the day he was called before student court at Fresno State College and had to face as one of his judges Lois Esther Huter. Lois, a no-nonsense military daughter, eventually agreed to date Tarkanian and to marry him. The City of Las Vegas got lucky when UNLV recruited Lois’s husband as basketball coach. After picking cotton in California’s Central Valley Lois earned her Master’s degree in speech pathology and holds national certifications in speech pathology, language, and audiology. In 1969 she opened California’s first private day school for the hearing impaired, Oralingua School for the Hearing Impaired in Whittier. In Las Vegas she taught hearing-impaired children in her home on an individual and pro-bono basis. In this interview Lois recalls her teaching career, debates in deaf education, her 12 years on Clark County School District School Board, and the people and the neighborhoods that make up Las Vegas’s Ward 1, the area she has represented on the Las Vegas City Council continuously since 2005.

On March 2, 1980, Joe Schneider interviewed Patricia “Pat” Craddock (born 1928 in Las Vegas, Nevada) in her home about her experiences in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pat first talks about growing up in Las Vegas, where she became a teacher, and her eventual travels to live in other cities across the United States. The two discuss Craddock’s experiences as a teacher, the educational system in Nevada, and the specific individuals with whom she worked in education. Craddock also talks about the changes of Las Vegas in general, the perception of Las Vegas from people in other parts of the country, and what she believes the future of the school system will bring. Pat later mentions Helldorado, and she mentions the types of recreational activities available to young people during her time. The interview concludes with Pat’s recollection of her most memorable student while she was a teacher.

On March 4, 1978, Bill Cunningham interviewed Norman Forsythe (born 1927 in St. Paris, Ohio) about his experience as a firefighter in Las Vegas, Nevada. Forsythe discusses his original move to Las Vegas and his eventual joining of both the city of Las Vegas and Clark County Fire Departments. He also goes into detail about fighting the fire at the El Rancho Vegas in 1960. Forsythe also talks about the responsibilities as his then-current rank of battalion chief. The two also discuss housing in Las Vegas, the living conditions of the city, and Forsythe’s family. The interview concludes with Forsythe talking briefly about his family’s recreational activities and his experience as a baseball coach.