Oral history interviews with Harriet Trudell conducted by Caryll Batt Dziedziak on May 03, 2006 and July 25, 2006 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Trudell begins by discussing her early life, her parents, and attending boarding school. Trudell goes on to discuss her father's political activism and her grandparents' impact on her life. Trudell then describes her adult life in St. Petersburg, Florida with her husband and young children and their move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1962. Next Trudell talks about marching in civil rights demonstrations, including at Selma, Alabama. Trudell continues to discuss her activism in a variety of social movements including labor unions, school integration, women's rights, and welfare rights.
Oral history interviews with Marge Conley conducted by Claytee White on May 06, 1998 and July 09, 1998 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Conley opens her interviews discussing her childhood in Chicago, Illinois during the Great Depression including her experience working at a young age to help her family. She discusses her experiences with unions throughout the country and using her union traveling card to transfer from Chicago to Las Vegas, Nevada. Conely talks about her career as a server at the Desert Inn and Caesars Palace including topics about staffing, wages, and working conditions. She describes her association with the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, how strikes were organized, and the union's efforts to improve others' lives. She also talks about how the local Culinary Union helped promote women and African Americans into leadership positions. Conley ends her interview discussing the importance of unions and the need to continue them in the future.
Myrna Williams was born in Chicago in 1929. Her brother was the singer Mel Tormé, so the family moved to Hollywood when she was ten because her brother was under contract with MGM. Shortly after Myrna turned 21, she moved to New York to work for Decca Records. She met the jazz drummer David Williams, whom she married. Myrna, David, and their daughter Indy moved to Las Vegas in 1959. Myrna got involved in politics, and was elected to the Nevada State Assembly and to the Clark County Commission. She also taught in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' department of social work for eleven years. Myrna is also a member of numerous community organizations and sits on the board of the Public Education Foundation and the Anti-Defamation League. Her greatest accomplishment in her opinion is the development of the Cambridge Recreation Center, a community center that houses a skate park and a pool, as well as programming that focuses on at risk youth. In 2007 it was designated as the Myrna Tormé Community Campus.
Dedee (DaVeen) Nave reveals a life filled with distinguished results in the cultural evolution of Las Vegas since her move to the valley in 1971. She was a young bride and soon a mother when she arrived with her can-do energies. She was a trained educator who was eagerly looked outside the classroom for a way to make a difference in the community when she took a position with the Camp Fire Girls Over the following decades, the impact of involving Dedee in many valued projects is evident. In this interview, she provides a glimpse into her various aptitudes and the many people she has worked with to great results. Dedee Nave was born DaVeen Maurer in 1948 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to David and Virginia Maurer and has a sister, Marilyn Maurer MacCollum. Their mother was a convert to Judaism who instilled them with a solid Judeo-Christian foundation. When Dedee became the bride of a mixed marriage, she raised her daughter Alisa in the Jewish faith. Alisa, who is married to Robb Worth, is a practicing attorney in Las Vegas. A graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, Dedee studied fine arts, considered being a theater major, modified her plans and became a skilled organizer of people and projects. This ability to envision, implement, and fundraise is seen in Dedee?s distinguished list of community programs, among them her work with: the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission; two terms on the Nevada State Arts Council; a past president of the Junior League of Las Vegas; former chairperson of the Junior League?s Endowment Fund Trustees; Lied Discovery Children?s Museum opening; and chairperson of Morelli House Public Program and many other initiatives.