Della Mae Rostine left Missouri with her husband, Rocco, in 1942, and headed to Las Vegas. Happy to leave behind the hard life and instability the mining industry had to offer, after living in Las Vegas for the first year the couple settled in Henderson, Nevada, known as the townsite at that time. Della Mae’s oral history provides readers with a glimpse of what life was like for the 14,000-plus individuals and families who also moved to southern Nevada during the same period in order to make a living in the growing “war work” industry the area had to offer. Della Mae shares the hardships faced in finding housing, especially for families with children. She discusses challenges ranging from securing home furnishings to purchasing groceries, including the rations on gasoline and butter at that time. Della Mae also discusses her experiences with the Basic Magnesium plant where her husband was hired as a construction worker in the early days of the plant and where she would work briefly as a machinist making shell casings and monitoring the down time on the production line. She also touches briefly on the social opportunities the BMI plant, and later Rheem Manufacturing, offered to the workers and their families. When World War II ended, more than half of residents of the townsite left, leaving fewer than 7,000 people to form what would later become the city of Henderson, Nevada. Della Mae’s oral history is a brief overview of a family life which began when BMI was just getting off the ground and continued through the many changes that took place in the BMI complex and the town site over several decades. The timing of the Rostine family’s arrival and the fact that they stayed and made a permanent home in Henderson led to their designation as one of Henderson’s “founding families.”

Folder from the John Vergiels Political Papers (MS-00283).

Oral history interview with Tanya Olson conducted by Claytee D. White on July 6, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Olson recalls beginning October 2, 2017 to photograph scenes surrounding the aftermath of the shooting at the Route 91 Country Music Festival. Her efforts culminated in a film that highlights the Healing Garden, a memorial established after the shooting. It was dedicated on the first Friday of October 2017. Her 6-minute film, Forever In Our Hearts, is described as "Citizens unite to provide kindness and salve the wounds caused by the October 1, 2017 massacre during a Las Vegas country concert." The film was shown at the Nevada Women's Film Festival in 2018. Olson discusses beginning her latest endeavor, matriculating at the American Film Institute, a lifelong dream that she is pursuing after 23 years in the military, a film degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and completing her film project on one of the worst massacres in American history.

Biography, essay and poem written and compiled by Raymonde Fiol, titled Pieces of My Life.