Dennis Wilson an experienced musician was born in Arabi, Louisiana in 1951. His parents both served in the Marine Corps. Dennis started playing the clarinet in the 4th grade but he did not stop there by the time he was in college he could play the alto saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He received a scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans. The first introduction to Las Vegas was in 1971. At this time Dennis played for Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders traveling all around the United States with the band. In 1979 Dennis moved back to Las Vegas after a short stay in New Orleans. On his return to Las Vegas Dennis recalls his experiences playing with relief bands and performing weekly at Stardust, Dunes, Flamingo, Tropicana, Sands and Caesars. Dennis recalls what it was like working in Las Vegas and the rigorous schedule of a musician. Dennis has had a successful carrier as a musician he went on to play for Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick traveling the world. He then settled back in Vegas working on prominent shows such as Avenue Q, Spamalot, and Phantom of the Opera. Dennis still resides in Las Vegas and is now a paraprofessional at Johnson Junior High.
Alice Brown, former UNLV librarian, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She gives a thorough and fascinating history of her family going back to the 1600s and includes a detailed description of the family home, which may have served as a stop on the antislavery Underground Railroad. Alice attended college in Pennsylvania and earned a library degree at Carnegie. After Pearl Harbor, she enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and served in the U S. and overseas. Upon discharge from the Army, she worked as assistant children's librarian in Cleveland Heights for a time and then followed a friend out to Tacoma, Washington. She worked in the Tacoma Public Library as children's librarian, and also met her husband there. Alice's husband was offered a job in Henderson, Nevada, at the manganese plant. That didn't work out, but he was hired at Titanium right away. Alice describes Henderson as it was in the fifties, and also discusses the state of the libraries in both Henderson and Las Vegas. After the birth of her third child, Alice began working at the University of Nevada Southern Regional Division (now UNLV) part time. This was in 1962, and Alice shares detailed memories of the university campus, library, and faculty and staff from that era. Alice did not slow down after her retirement in 1985. She did volunteer work, traveled, and attended classes at UNLV. Today she volunteers at the Clark County Heritage Museum as a cataloger and at the hospital helping deliver papers and lab work to their various destinations.