Thalia Dondero is most famous for being the first woman elected to the Clark County Commission. She ran her first successful campaign in 1974 and held office for twenty years. While on the commission, Dondero helped to create Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire state parks, to modernize McCarran International Airport and University Medical Center, and served on the Water Authority Board. She served as a member of the Board of Regents for the Nevada System of Higher Education for twelve years after retiring from the County Commission in 1994. Dondero died September 4, 2016 from complications from congestive heart failure. Thalia Marie Dondero was born January 23, 1920. Her father, Doyle Sperry, was a taxidermist and her mother, Sylvia Peck, was a violinist and worked in a laundry. She lived in both Colorado and Wyoming before her family settled in Bakersfield, California. Dondero moved to Las Vegas in 1943 when her employer took a job with Basic Magnesium, Inc. and requested that she follow him. On June 21, 1946 she married Harvey Dondero who taught English and journalism for local high schools,. The couple had two daughters and three sons together. Dondero was very active in her community. While her children were in school, she volunteered for the Parent Teacher Association and even served as the organization’s president. She was also very active with local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops in Las Vegas. She served as executive director of the girl scouts and was instrumental in creating the Foxtail Girl Scout Camp at Mount Charleston. Throughout her life, Dondero volunteered with a number of Las Vegas organizations, including the Junior League, the International Women’s Foundation, and the Gilcrease Foundation.
Oral history interview with Marie McMillan conducted by Kelli Luchs on September 15, 2009, September 23, 2009 October 01, 2009, and November 24, 2009 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Marie McMillan discusses life during the Great Depression and World War II. She then talks about marrying Duke Daly, raising a family with him, Daly passing away, moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1961, and working at the Nevada Test Site. She then discusses being a single mother, marrying James McMillan, and her great passion for aviation. She also talks about her role as a leader in the African American community and her flying records.
Dining at the Frontier Hotel, April 13, 1969. Pictured L-R: Mrs. Bonnie Gragson, Mrs. John Meier, Las Vegas Mayor Oran K. Gragson, John Meier, U. S. Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. The location where the photograph was taken is unknown. Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 – October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business owner who was elected Mayor on a reform platform against police corruption and for equal opportunity for people of all socio-economic and racial categories. Gragson died in a Las Vegas hospice on October 7, 2002, at the age of 91. The Oran K. Gragson Elementary School located at 555 N. Honolulu Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 was named in his honor. Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel (born May 13, 1930) is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a candidate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966 and also became Speaker of the Alaska House. Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968. John H. Meier (born September 28, 1933) is an American financier and business consultant now living in Vancouver, Canada. He is noted for his involvement with Howard Hughes, his behind-the-scenes involvement in events that precipitated President Richard M. Nixon's resignation, and his work in the environment. During the Watergate hearings, one man wanted to tell a spellbound nation secrets about the Nixon White House, the CIA and Howard Hughes. He could have told them why the burglary happened, but that was not what the Committee wanted to hear. To keep him from telling his secrets, he was persecuted, jailed and forced into exile in Canada. Investigative reporter Gerald Bellett detailed everything in a book called Age of Secrets. In a revised edition for the first time is an excerpt from John Meier's diary on the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination. John Meier is the first person to reveal everything from the Hughes Organization, and Robert Maheu’s, involvement with the assassination, to Thane Cesar ’s connection to Jack Hooper.
Dining at the Frontier Hotel, April 13, 1969. Pictured L-R: Mrs. Bonnie Gragson, Mrs. John Meier, Las Vegas Mayor Oran K. Gragson, John Meier, U. S. Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. The location where the photograph was taken is unknown. Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 - October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business owner who was elected Mayor on a reform platform against police corruption and for equal opportunity for people of all socio-economic and racial categories. Gragson died in a Las Vegas hospice on October 7, 2002, at the age of 91. The Oran K. Gragson Elementary School located at 555 N. Honolulu Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 was named in his honor. Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel (born May 13, 1930) is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a candidate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966 and also became Speaker of the Alaska House. Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968. John H. Meier (born September 28, 1933) is an American financier and business consultant now living in Vancouver, Canada. He is noted for his involvement with Howard Hughes, his behind-the-scenes involvement in events that precipitated President Richard M. Nixon's resignation, and his work in the environment. During the Watergate hearings, one man wanted to tell a spellbound nation secrets about the Nixon White House, the CIA and Howard Hughes. He could have told them why the burglary happened, but that was not what the Committee wanted to hear. To keep him from telling his secrets, he was persecuted, jailed and forced into exile in Canada. Investigative reporter Gerald Bellett detailed everything in a book called Age of Secrets. In a revised edition for the first time is an excerpt from John Meier's diary on the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination. John Meier is the first person to reveal everything from the Hughes Organization, and Robert Maheu’s, involvement with the assassination, to Thane Cesar ’s connection to Jack Hooper.
The Nancy Houssels Collection on the Nevada Dance Theatre (1972-1997) consists of programs, posters, photographs, newsletters, magazine articles, and newspaper clippings related to the Nevada Dance Theatre (now Nevada Ballet Theatre) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nancy Houssels co-founded the Nevada Dance Theatre in 1972 with Vassili Sulich.
Oral history interview with Ruth Fyfe, K. Oscar Knudson, and Fern Olive oral conducted by Susan Kendall on March 22, 1977 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. The three interviewees discuss their early experiences teaching in Las Vegas, Nevada elementary schools beginning between 1924 and 1926. Topics the interviewees discuss include interstate school sports events, physical education for girls, sports for girls, teacher shortages, and school overcrowding. They also discuss illegal gambling in Las Vegas, Nevada prior to 1931, as well as Fremont Street casino and bar development in relation to the Las Vegas Grammar School (currently known as the Historic Fifth Street School) and the Las Vegas High School (currently known as Las Vegas Academy of the Arts) after Nevada legalized gambling.