While offering anecdotes on Southwest Gas Company’s early years—including its flirtation with a nuclear bomb and owning a casino; its purchase of a Kingman, Arizona, ranch with an underground salt dome, and its involvement with the formation of Boyd Gaming—this oral history also reveals Bill Jr.’s role in applying his knowledge of natural gas infrastructure to promote extensive education about building codes, infrastructure, and engineered systems. In particular, Bill discusses EduCode, the internationally recognized, week-long building code institute held annually in Las Vegas that originally began more than twenty-five years ago and has since attracted worldwide participation. While Bill does not teach at the institute, he has helped organize the course since its inception and has been a consistent supporter.
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Interviewed by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez. Barbara Tabach also participates in the questioning. Valorie J Vega was born in raised in Los Angeles County. Her father, Fred Vega, was one of the first firefighters hired in the Los Angeles County area. Vega was one of three children, and remembers spending her childhood surrounded by family. In college, Vega began studying biology only to realize that she was better suited studying Spanish. Upon completion of her undergrad, Vega went on to earn a Master's in Spanish interpretation. As a result of her studies, Vega was able to secure a job in the Court Interpreter program in Las Vegas, moving here in 1978. Her position in the interpreter program, led her to pursue a degree in law which in turn led to a successful career as a lawyer and a judge.
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Interviewed by Irene Rostine. In July of 1955, Joanne Molen's husband was offered a job at Nellis Air Force Base, so they moved from Alturas, California, to Las Vegas. Joanne had worked for Citizens Utilities in Alturas as a Western Union teletype operator, so she got a job with the Southern Nevada Telephone Company. She was the only woman to hold some of the positions she held. She worked for the telephone company, which became Sprint, for more than forty years, ending up as a main engineer. Joanne also was a volunteer and was active in community organizations including the American Ex-Prisoners of War and the Disabled American Veterans organizations, which lead to her being appointed by Governor Richard Bryan to the state of Nevada's Veterans Advisory Commission where she became the first woman to hold the position of chairman for the Commission. She was also voted Women of the Year four times by the local chapter of the American Business Women's Association for her work with veterans.
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It seems counterintuitive that a man who was raised a Mennonite, spoke Pennsylvania Dutch before he spoke English, and was destined to quit school after eighth grade to work on the family farm would grow up to become one of the most progressive and visionary library directors in the United States. His participation in the Building Las Vegas project results from his being responsible for building twenty libraries in Clark County during his 1971–1994 tenure as director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. One of his first controversies was to insist on going to high school after his father demanded he quit. After graduating high school he went to Nigeria on behalf of his church, serving there for five years. Upon returning to the U.S., he found work at the Fort Wayne Library, albeit he was limited by how far he could advance because of his limited education. After attaining his library degree Indiana University at Bloomington he served as director at the Columbia City Library
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Landscape architect Jack W. Zunino is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and president of the Society's local chapter. He has designed many of Southern Nevada's iconic landscapes: the Rio Hotel, the M Resort, the Desert Demonstration Gardens, the gardens at Ethel M. Chocolates, the Cactus Avenue overpass, and most notably, the Springs Preserve. He's also a third-generation Nevadan from Elko, grandson of Italian immigrants who met and married in the Silver State and raised their large family in that Nevada mining town. The product of Elko schools, he graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and Utah State University in landscape architecture while earning his tuition as a road construction laborer. In this interview, Zunino tells of his employment with G.C. Wallace Engineering and JMA architects before founding his own landscape architecture firm in 1989. He speaks to the importance of planners and landscape architects on Southern Nevada's conser
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Interviewed by Elsa Lopez and Claytee White. Mauricia Baca, Director of Get Outdoors Nevada, was born to a Jewish American mother and Mexican father who settled in New York City. She overcame the economic obstacles of her early life to graduate from Vassar College and University of New York Law School, where she learned to be proud of her identity. Subjects: Jewish, Education, Law School, Latinx, Mexican
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Raymond Rawson's life started in the rural Utah community of Sandy in 1940. His family moved around in what he describes as a scene from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. By the age of 10, the family settled in Las Vegas, which had a population of around 35,000. He attended Fifth Street Grammar School, Las Vegas High School, was a member of UNLV's first graduating class, and eventually became a dentist. In this interview, he reflects on his experiences of growing up in Las Vegas, the hardships of difficult economic eras, and his professional accomplishments in the field of dentistry, including actively advocating the creation of UNLV School of Dental Medicine. Ray also became a community leader. He served in the Nevada State Legislature from 1985 to 2001. He talks about his relationship with long-time legislator Joe Neal. Education and access to healthcare were among the issues that Ray championed and he shares his observations of these issues. In 2009, he was appointe
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Bill Sheehan describes his Philadelphia, PA, upbringing: Catholic schooling, importance of education and growing up with numbers (his father was a bookie). Knowing he might be drafted, he joined the Marine Corps in the 1940s and then returned home to finish he studies to become an accountant. In 1959 he became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). A short term job in California gave him a taste of the west. It was 1962, Las Vegas was growing and experiencing a shortage of qualified accountants. Bill applied for a CPA position and immediately was hired. Thus, began his permanent residency in Las Vegas. Bill talks about his professional life and how he eventually started his own firm in 1971. He retired in 1997. He also shares personal anecdotes, impressions and observations specifically about the growth of Henderson, Nevada, as it grew from a very small town adjacent to Las Vegas into a small city of over 200,000 people. Bill is a co-trustee, with Bob Clark, of the Boyer Charitable Foundation. This interview and many more are possible through the generous donation of the Boyers.
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Dr. John Richard Shepherd shares the background of his early life in southern Illinois, his father's and grandfather's occupations, and his educational journey through college and medical school. His army experiences in Chicago and Alabama convinced him and his wife to look for a warm dry climate in which to live, and they relocated to Las Vegas in 1968. Dr. Shepherd recalls the businesses and housing surrounding Sunrise Hospital, the difficulties getting his specialty listed in the phone book, and renting his first office space from Nate Adelson. He also describes taking out a loan to install ophthalmology equipment, hiring an office manager with medical accounting experience, and doing cataract surgery in a way that basically hadn't changed for decades. The passing of the Medicare bill back in 1966 caused Dr. Shepherd's practice to build up quickly. He details the many ways eye surgery changed, including the invention of the intraocular lens and the phacoemulsification procedure. He mentions his and Dr. Shearing's contributions to ophthalmology — better designed lenses and surgical techniques - which they taught to other doctors from all over the country. Dr. Shepherd discusses radial keratotomy, which was a precursor to laser and later LASIK surgery, and describes a lens implant technique he learned in Russia from Dr. Fyodorov. He goes on to share anecdotes and stories of his interactions with patients, his travels as a consultant and as a surgical teacher for Project Orbis, and meeting Fidel Castro. He speaks candidly about his successes and his failures as well. Dr. Shepherd retired in 2006 and immediately enrolled in a Master's program and earned a degree in military history. After a long and distinguished career, after receiving many accolades and awards, he and his wife are enjoying life, splitting their time between Sun Valley, Idaho, and Las Vegas.
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Keny Stewart often sits in his backyard and hears the train whistle. In that moment he thinks about what Las Vegas must have been like in the 1940s—a moment made more meaningful by living in historic John S. Park Neighborhood. He enjoys his place, a place he has called home for 20 years. He was there for the beginning of the neighborhood "renaissance". Keny moved from California to Las Vegas in 1984 to work as an entertainer. One day a few years later he accidentally drove through John S. Park neighborhood, admired the architecture of the homes and the nostalgic feeling. Soon he was a homeowner, restoring his investment, a labor of love. At the time he worked nights on the Strip and restored his house day. Along the way he made a career change to educator/librarian for grade school level. He is a former neighborhood association president. He remembers the neighborhood's battle to maintain its integrity as it went up against local casino developer Bob Stupak's (whose home i
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