Oral history interview with Marilyn Glovinsky and Melissa Lemoine conducted by Barbara Tabach on April 02, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Glovinsky and Lemoine recall moving from Salt Lake City, Utah to Las Vegas, Nevada. They discuss helping start Congregation Ner Tamid, and their involvement with the Jewish community.
Stanley Mallin (1923- ) was a native of Kansas City, Missouri; the son of Bess and Louis Mallin. His mother was a homemaker and his father was an industrious immigrant from Ukraine who earned his US citizenship through combat in World War I. Stan was the middle child of their three. It was while Stan attended the University of Missouri that he met Jay Sarno. The two men’s fast personal friendship made them solid business partners. Their first endeavor was in Florida with a tile business. It was during a holiday stay at the Flamingo that the two dreamed a bigger, better hotel-casino. The result was Caesars Palace. He has lived and helped develop Las Vegas since 1968. In 1982, Stan married his wife Sandy (neé Jacoby) Mallin. Sandy grew up in New York and arrived in Las Vegas in 1977. She has provided dynamic leadership in the Jewish community. For several years she was President of the Women’s Division of Jewish Federation. She then followed this as the first woman to be President of T
Marilyn Glovinsky discusses her upbringing in New York and moving to Las Vegas. She was involved in establishing Congregation Ner Tamid. Her daughter, Melissa, talks about growing up in Las Vegas and attending Hebrew Academy.
Marilyn Glovinsky was born January 20, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a teacher, Lilyan, and police sergeant, Solomon Goldberg. Marilyn split her childhood between New York City and Los Angeles, where she spent the summers with her maternal grandparents. In 1963, she graduated with a bachelor?s degree in speech pathology from Brooklyn College. A year later she married, and the couple soon moved to Salt Lake City, where her husband had been hired as a graduate assistant at the University of Utah. In Salt Lake City, Marilyn worked as a first grade teacher. It was there that she attended her first High Holidays service, at the Reform synagogue. It wasn?t long before her husband enlisted in the United States Navy, and they were stationed Camp Legeune, North Carolina, for nearly three years. The couple later moved back to Utah, where their children Melissa and David were born. In June of 1974, Marilyn and her family moved to Las Vegas. She quickly integrated herself into the Jewish community, and was amongst a small group of families that started Congregation Ner Tamid. She went on to play a critical role in the growth of the synagogue, including taking on an interim operations management role at one time, and also leading the development of the Hebrew School, to tremendous success. Marilyn?s daughter has emulated her mother?s dedication to making Judaism accessible to members of the local community, particularly through education and social activities. Even as a fifth grader at the Hebrew Academy, Melissa took on additional responsibilities, assisting in the school office. Now, in addition to her job as a teacher at Doral Academy, Melissa teaches b?nai mitzvah, conversion and Hebrew School classes at Ner Tamid. She also leads programming for NextGen, a group dedicated to creating community amongst young Jewish adults in their 20s and 30s. Melissa is married to Todd Lemoine, and they have one child named Colton.
Oral history interview with Judith Steele conducted by Barbara Tabach on November 25, 2014 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Steele discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1969 from Brooklyn, New York. She also discusses serving the Jewish community as an educator and business person, as well as designing Clark County School District's first individualized education program.
A group photo of, from left to right, Debra Cohen, Norma Friedman, and Dee Ober at a United Jewish Appeal (UJA) event, most likely in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Gilbert Yarchever was one of nine siblings, born and bred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He describes the way his mother?s family was granted the last name of ?Kurfeersf" by Emperor Franz Joseph (of Austria-Hungary), explains the Seder (the Jewish observation of the exodus of Hebrews from Egypt), and tells what it was like to survive the Depression. Gilbert describes the jobs he held after high school and the government examination he took that led to his lifetime of adventure and travel. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1940 and kept himself busy working for the government and taking classes at George Washington University, as well as working part time at Hecht Department Store and as a freelance court reporter. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Gilbert was sent to Africa on a merchant ship, helped smuggle Jewish survivors into Jerusalem, and was assigned the task of negotiating with Arab sheikhs for laborers to build a road. In the years after that, he worked in Europe, Panama, Alaska, Japan, and Hawaii and describes many of the jobs he was responsible for and many of the individuals he met. He also married and had children, kept up with university classes whenever he could, and collected art objects and paintings. Following his retirement in 1977, Gilbert and his family came to Las Vegas and bought a condo in Regency Towers. He did some consulting work for a couple of years, and then he and his wife began traveling around the states and going abroad. He was involved with UNLV?s EXCEL program, the music department, and the Las Vegas Art Museum. (He and his second wife Edythe presented the first major exhibition on Holocaust art at the museum.) These days Gilbert often donates pieces from his art collection to churches, synagogues, and charitable organizations.
Gilbert Yarchever was in the Navy during World War II, helped smuggle Jewish refugees into Jerusalem, worked as a civil servant in many countries, and moved to Las Vegas in 1977. He helped found the EXCEL program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and was an art collector with his wife, Edythe Katz-Yarchever.
Oral history interview with Martin, Linda, and Robert Wilner conducted by Barbara Tabach on May 10, 2016 and May 24, 2016 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. The family discusses their family ties to the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish community. Martin also talks about his career as a clinical psychologist; Linda and her son, Robert, talk about the real estate development in Las Vegas.
Oral history interview with Robin and Danny Greenspun conducted by Michael Geeser on June 28, 1995 for the I Remember When: Recollections from Las Vegas Jewish Leaders oral history project. The Greenspuns discuss their different childhood experiences growing up Jewish in Las Vegas, Nevada. Robin and Danny each discuss their family histories briefly. They also discuss their philanthropy, specifically the CineVegas film festival. Finally, they discuss how they feel the Jewish community in Las Vegas is at the time of the interview, and how the next generation will grow and change the city.
Oral history interview with Ellen Barre Spiegel conducted by Barbara Tabach on December 04, 2017 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. In this interview, Spiegel discusses her family’s origins in Eastern Europe, growing up in Jericho, New York, and being raised as a conservative Jew. She talks about attending Cornell University, majoring in consumer economics, and completing an internship with American Express. Spiegel explains how she became involved in Las Vegas, Nevada politics, being elected as Assemblywoman for District 20 in 2008, and the redistricting of Assembly Districts 20, 22, and 29. Later, Spiegel explains her position on the board of the Green Valley Ranch Master Association and recalls her successes from the 2017 legislature. Lastly, Spiegel talks about her involvement with the National Association of Jewish Legislators.