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Gay, James A., III, 1916-1999
Alternate Names
James A. Gay III was born March 6th, 1916 in Fordyce, Arkansas. Arriving in 1946, Gay became the first African-American mortician in Las Vegas. He later worked as Assistant Manager of the Sands Hotel and Casino and Union Plaza while serving as an executive board member of the Culinary Union. Instrumental in the Las Vegas community, Gay worked to improved race relations, addressing social, economic, and civic issues. Gay was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1988.
Person
Savalli, Janet
Janet Savalli's family moved from Phoenix, Arizona, to Henderson, Nevada, in 1945 so her father could work at the Basic Magnesium plant. A few years later, when she was a junior in high school, Janet began her 46-plus years career at the Southern Nevada Telephone Company, which eventually became Sprint. During that period she held several positions, including operator, supervisor, schedule clerk, trainer, investigator, and community relations coordinator. Janet also talks about the atomic bomb testing at Camp Mercury and Camp Desert Rock near Las Vegas.
Person
Siefert, Tona, 1924-1996
Tona Cashman was born in Las Vegas, Nevada to Leah Barker and James Cashman, Sr. on September 23, 1924. She competed in beauty pageants and won both Miss Las Vegas and Miss Helldorado in 1941. She graduated from Las Vegas High School and attended finishing school in Missouri. She later attended Sawyers School of Business in Los Angeles, California. She married Robert L. Margison, but the couple divorced and she married Charles Henry Siefert. Siefert was a prominent banking executive in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Person
Kiley, Ruth J., 1944-
Ruth Jane Kiley was born in Newark, New Jersey, and lived in California and New York before her
family moved to Las Vegas in 1957, when Ruth was thirteen. Ruth worked in the insurance business for almost thirty years, dealing with casinos during the most expansive period of the city's growth.
Person
Polson, Billie Mae, 1932-2020
Billie Mae Polson was the head of Technical Services in the James R. Dickinson Library at Southern Regional Division of the University of Nevada, now the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. Polson was born in 1932 in Clark, Nevada. Polson was hired as a cataloging and reference librarian in the summer of 1959. After fourty years of service to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Polson retired in 1999. As of 2020, Billie Mae Polson resides in Henderson, Nevada.
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Jones, James, Jr., 1939-
James Jones Jr. was born September 11, 1939 in Waverly, Louisiana. In June 1959, James Jones looked forward to moving to Las Vegas, away from farming in Waverly, Louisiana. His first job was at Gilbert's Grocery Store on D Street. Within a couple of years, he secured a position in the mailroom for REECO (Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company) at the Nevada Test Site. He would work there for over three decades. Among his memories is a four-hour job at the Blue Onion as well as singing with the choir gathered the day Martin Luther King, Jr.
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