Herbert C. Wells is currently professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at UNLV, and is considered the father of engineering at the university. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1927, and spent the first four years of his life there. After his father was killed in a plane crash in 1931, his mother moved them out to Los Angeles to be near her husband's parents. They moved several times, but the goal was always to find good schools for Herb and his sister Herb received an outstanding junior high education at Trailfinders School for Boys, and then attended Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in ninth grade. He then was sent to the San Diego Army Navy Academy, where he completed high school in two years and graduated at age 16. He next enrolled at Pasadena Junior College, majoring first in chemistry and then in geology, and was drafted into the army at age 18. After the war, Herbert returned to Berkeley to finish his education. The GI bill helped him finish his master's degree. He then went to work for United Geophysical for two years, and following that, was hired at a mine in Climax, Colorado. He and his second wife moved to Las Vegas in 1957, where he began working for Titanium Metals. After a mere three weeks on the job, he met with Dr. Malcolm Graham from early UNLV, who asked Herb to teach surveying. Dr. Wells taught surveying for only one semester, but continued his association with the faculty at the university. He kept working at Titanium Metals, where he learned a lot of practical chemistry, but was laid off shortly thereafter. He then was offered a job with Blue Diamond Gypsum as a plant engineer and continued teaching on a part-time basis. He became a full-time instructor at the college in 1961. By 1967, Herbert had been appointed chairman of science, math, and engineering. He immediately put in a request for ten more teaching positions, which were ultimately filled. He also was instrumental in putting together a proposal for a graduate degree in physics, and of course was involved in ABET accreditation for engineering degrees.

Dr. Richard V. Wyman was born in Painesville, Ohio, and lived there until he joined the navy in 1943 at the age of 17. His father got into real estate and insurance in Painesville. Richard's mother graduated from Ohio State with a degree in home economics, worked until she married, and then devoted her life to her family. In high school, Dick took college prep classes. A month before he graduated he joined the Navy and was sent to college part of the time. He got out of the Navy in 1946 and continued on in college with help from the 52-20 club, a type of GI bill. He studied geology in the night school division of Western Reserve. He met his future wife Anne during this time and they were both admitted to Michigan State grad school. After graduate school, Richard and his wife moved to South America where he had been offered a job. His wife eventually taught grade school there, K through 8. They moved back to Prescott, Arizona, where Dick was offered a job with New Jersey Zinc. Art Still then hired him to work for Western Gold and Uranium and the Golden Crown Mining Company, so Richard and Anne moved to St. George, Utah, with their son Bill. In 1959 Dick met with Don McGregor who hired him to build the Marshmallow Tunnel at the Nevada Test Site. He also built the Exchequer Tunnel for the Sunshine Mine in Idaho, and a tunnel in Merced, California. Eventually McGregor asked him to return to the Test Site to work on Project Pile Driver. In 1969 Herb Wells offered Richard a job at UNLV teaching in engineering. He taught statics, strength and materials, surveying, field mapping and geology. He later added engineering economics, engineering management, economic geology, field geology and mineralogy. Richard took a couple of terms as chair of science and engineering, sharing that responsibility with Herb Wells, Bob Skaggs, Ray Martinez, and John Tryon. The program eventually had three civil engineers and could apply to ABET for accreditation. Dick was chair at the time, motivating the faculty to gather everything they needed for the inspections. In the '80s, the Engineering Advisory Council helped the faculty develop a plan for a new engineering building. Faculty members worked with the architect to make sure those classrooms and labs had everything they needed. After moving into the new building, civil engineering forged ahead, creating a PhD program. Over the years, Dick saw the splitting up of the old College of Science, Math, and Engineering into separate disciplines and watched the number of graduates increase from 10 to between 30 and 50. After he retired from UNLV in 1992, Dick did ABET evaluations for about eight years.

Kevin: Stories about the early Pinto Palomino neighborhood, work as a teenager, black-white relations, schooling including Bishop Gorman, and the move to Las Vegas. Barbara: Difference between Flintridge, CA, and Las Vegas in 1968 when the family arrived. Husband served as one of the doctors of Howard Hughes. Community participation and hotel-casino entertainment for young couples, rearing children in Las Vegas.