Gus Mancuso (Ronald Bernard Mancuso), a talented impresario, was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania in 1933. Gus grew up in Hastings, Pennsylvania as the youngest of nine children. His father, an immigrant from Italy, Joseph Mancuso, owned multiple businesses and his mother, Josephine Ceranni toiled as a stay at home mother. Despite his father’s businesses, the family struggled financially. By the eighth grade Gus moved to Rochester, New York, where his mother joined him, after his parents separated. As a youngster Gus Mancuso learned to play the trumpet by ear. By age 11 he was encouraged to learn to play the drums so he could help earn money for the family. After two weeks of training, Gus Mancuso was earning $5 dollars as the replacement for his older brother Joe in musical performances in places like Moose Hall and the Elks Club in Pennsylvania. His performances were so legendary that an article was written about Gus entitled the “Eighth Grade Drummer”. He continued to demonstrate tremendous musical versatility even after moving from Hastings to Rochester where he received first chair trombone honors after impressing his high school band teacher. After graduating high school, in 1951, Gus went on the road with the Don Manning Trio. Shortly thereafter, a bass player position opened in his brother’s group the Ray Brand Trio. Despite the fact that Gus did not know how to play bass, when he received the offer to become a member of Joe’s band, he went on to learn yet another instrument and joined the Ray Brand Trio. However, while with his brother’s group, Gus was drafted into the army. He packed his trumpet, and despite initially receiving flack for playing in the latrine, the lieutenant exempted Gus from duty so he could perform in the morning and at night for his fellow troops. Shortly thereafter, Gus served in the army band as a piano player. His instrumental capabilities and proficiency helped pave the way for more opportunities. After the army he moved to Nevada and played trombone with Tony Pastor in Reno. He found his way to Las Vegas in 1955 when he opened at the New Frontier on Halloween night. Gus went on to open at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, playing bass, with Sarah Vaughn. They went on to tour Europe together. He also played bass for Billy Eckstine and Les Brown as well as worked in the music department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Gus Mancuso met Lauri Perri, a singer and his first wife, while playing for the Mary Kaye Trio in Lake Tahoe. They were married at the Little Church of the West in 1960. However, Gus is now married to Maggie Peterson an actress who worked on the Andy Griffith Show. He lives in Las Vegas and currently works three nights a week playing piano at the Bootlegger owned by his first wife and getting the job from his son Ronald.

Eric Henninger interviews Detective Ronald Bananto at his home on March 15, 1981. Born in Coal Run, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bananto moved to Pioche, Nevada in 1949. A year later, and after a short period in San Francisco, California, Bananto relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1950. Bananto discusses police work, and life in Pioche, Nevada.

In 1954, Dan Connell enrolled as a sophomore at Las Vegas High School, newly arrived from Ocean Gate, New Jersey, where his father was a New Jersey state trooper. The family’s first living space was a converted two-car garage close to McCarran airport. Living there seemed far out of town at the time; so far out that the school district could not justify providing him bus service. Instead, the family was reimbursed for his transportation costs. Dan also worked fulltime in a restaurant near McCarran Airport while going to high school. This was followed by two years in the military. Afterwards, he returned to Las Vegas, went to school, married his wife Linda, and eventually settled in the Westleigh neighborhood of Ward 1 in 1973. Westleigh remains their home, the place where they raised four sons, lived near their parents, enjoyed Sunday dinners surrounded by family and friends, and the neighborhood where their sons delivered newspapers. All four sons, David, Donald, Mark and Brian, still

Treva Roles is one of six children born to Louis and Katherine Smith, and spent her childhood in Erie, Pennsylvania and Chicago, Illinois. During the Great Depression, Treva’s father used his entrepreneurial skills and creativity to turn his traveling salesman profession into a lucrative family business selling personal inventions. Eventually, he decided to sell the business, and buy a motel out west and “retire.” The motel ended up being the Fair Price Motel in Las Vegas, and Treva soon moved out to help the family run it. Her parents lived on Fremont Street. Shortly after moving to Las Vegas, Treva met Ralph Roles, a local fireman, whose family lived on West Charleston Blvd. The two were married just three months later. While on their honeymoon, Treva’s parents purchased the Del Mar Motel, and soon thereafter, Treva and Ralph purchased the Rummel Motel. Treva and Ralph owned and operated the Rummel Motel for 20 years, selling to Taiwanese investors in 1979. Treva and Ralph raised their three sons, all of whom are now chiropractors. In 2000, the couple fulfilled a dream of living on a golf course when they moved to Sun City Anthem. Two years later, Ralph lost his battle with Alzheimer’s. Treva’s current community activities include playing mahjong and involvement with the Women’s Club at Sun City Anthem.

Thomas Kerestesi was born in Redding, California. Son of Austrian immigrants, Tom’s family relocated to Las Vegas in 1956 when his father was offered a job with the Cragin and Pike Insurance Agency. The Kerestesi family moved into McNeil Estates, the neighborhood where the father would live for nearly fifty years until his passing. Tom attended West Charleston Elementary School and Hyde Park Junior High School, before entering Bishop Gorman High School. In high school, his extra-curricular activities included tennis and participated in Boys State. After graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno with a major in Accounting, narrowly missing being drafted into the military, Tom moved to Los Angeles to begin in own career in insurance. Longing for home and newlywed, he soon moved back to Las Vegas with his wife Buffie, and joined Cragin and Pike as an agent alongside his father. Tom would remain at Cragin and Pike for the next 38 years, where he dealt with underwriting the gaming and construction industries. Tom has served as a member of the Las Vegas Rotary Club, president of the Nevada Independent Insurance Agents, and has been awarded Outstanding Alumni of the University of Nevada. Tom and Buffie have two children who both also still live in Las Vegas.

Thomas Kerestesi was born in Redding, California. Son of Austrian immigrants, Tom’s family relocated to Las Vegas in 1956 when his father was offered a job with the Cragin and Pike Insurance Agency. The Kerestesi family moved into McNeil Estates, the neighborhood where the father would live for nearly fifty years until his passing. Tom attended West Charleston Elementary School and Hyde Park Junior High School, before entering Bishop Gorman High School. In high school, his extra-curricular activities included tennis and participated in Boys State. After graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno with a major in Accounting, narrowly missing being drafted into the military, Tom moved to Los Angeles to begin in own career in insurance. Longing for home and newlywed, he soon moved back to Las Vegas with his wife Buffie, and joined Cragin and Pike as an agent alongside his father. Tom would remain at Cragin and Pike for the next 38 years, where he dealt with underwriting the gaming and construction industries. Tom has served as a member of the Las Vegas Rotary Club, president of the Nevada Independent Insurance Agents, and has been awarded Outstanding Alumni of the University of Nevada. Tom and Buffie have two children who both also still live in Las Vegas.

Kenneth Fong reflects on growing up in Las Vegas and being the son of two successful and philanthropic community members, Wing and Lilly Fong. When Ken was born the family live in a modest home on 20th and Stewart. It was a close-knit neighborhood and era, kids played tag and roamed freely. When he entered third-grade, his parents moved their family to a newer subdivision near Rancho and West Charleston Avenue: the Scotch 80s. Their new custom home on Silver Avenue reflected Asian architecture and the family’s Chinese cultural heritage; it also included a pool and a small basketball court. Memories of the neighborhoods are distinct. He learned to be comfortable with his sister and he being the only Asian Americans in school at the time. He kept busy with community volunteering at Sunrise Hospital and tutoring younger children on the Westside among other high school activities. Ken speaks lovingly of his parents and their achievements, family outings to local venues such as Mount Charleston and Red Rock and to California, where they bought Chinese baked goods. His mother, Lilly was born into a large Chinese American family of ten children, each of whom achieved a college education. After her marriage to Wing, she moved to Las Vegas with plans to work as a teacher. Ken retells the story of her encounter with discrimination and overcoming that, and her trajectory to be the first Asian American elected the Nevada Board of Regents. His orphaned father, Wing, immigrated to the United Sates in 1939 to live with uncles. They worked as cooks in Las Vegas and established the first Las Vegas Chinese restaurant, Silver Café. Wing was merely thirteen years old and spoke no English. These were not to be obstacles. He would go on to graduate from Las Vegas High School, earn a college degree in business, have a successful career in commercial real estate and banking, building the notable Fong’s Garden. Ken calls his father his most influential mentor. Today Ken is also a successful in real estate management, active at Grace Presbyterian Church, involved in Rotary Club, and a proud father of two daughters.