Shortly before the University of Georgia granted Betsy Fretwell Master's degree in public administration in 1991, she applied for a one-year internship with Clark County, Nevada. The County hired her, but Fretwell did not complete her internship. Instead, the County promoted her, hired her full-time, and soon had her lobbying for the County's interests in Carson City. Her insistence on learning all sides of a question and communicating that knowledge to the decision makers was one of the skills that made her so valuable to Clark County administrators. In this interview, Fretwell discusses her South Carolina childhood, her affinity for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and the path she took to occupy the office of city manager for the City of Las Vegas. She talks about her years at Clark County and a term at the City of Henderson, but she mostly focuses on her sixteen years at the City of Las Vegas, first as assistant city manager under Virginia Valentine and later as city manage
Jillian Hrushowy arrived in Las Vegas in 1959 as part of a company hired to appear at the El Rancho Vegas Hotel in a production called La Nouvelle Eve. She has remained here (other than three short-term contracts in Reno, Nevada) until present day. She is now the production manager for Legends in Concert at the Imperial Palace Hotel. She was an only child, born in Rhodesia to English parents and raised in a home with servants and tutors. Her mother exposed her to the arts at an early age. Jillian took dancing lessons from the age of three years until she began dancing professionally. When she was fifteen years old, both parents agreed it was time for her to leave Rhodesia and finish her education in England. Living alone was difficult and lonely, but it afforded her a wealth of opportunities otherwise unavailable. She worked as a dancer in small, local productions while still in high school. When only eighteen, she got a job dancing in La Nouvelle Eve in Paris which eventually came to Las Vegas. This interview focuses on the years from Jillian’s arrival in 1959 until she retired from dancing in 1979. It follows her transitions from dancer, to principal dancer to production manager. [The first twenty minutes of the tape is warped and the text is garbled. The transcriber has lightly edited the transcript.]
On March 2, 1980, collector Krista Jenkins interviewed assistant manager, Sally L. Jackson, (born March 28th, 1932 in Culver City, California) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The interview covers the social and environmental changes that have occurred in Las Vegas. Sally also discusses the hospitality industry and offers details on the local hotels, casinos, and nightclubs in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On March 8, 1975, Kathy Mandel interviewed housewife Madeline Kadin (born in New York) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also present for the interview is Madeline’s husband, who is referred to as “Mr. Kadin.” The three discuss differences between early Las Vegas and the present. The Kadins also explain the history of Helldorado and how it has changed over the years.
On an unknown date (likely 1999-2000) and time, K.J. Evans interviewed Ralph Denton, an adviser to former Governor Grant Sawyer and political figure in Nevada for many years. Denton first talks about his personal friendship with Sawyer, their education in law school, and his eventual work on campaigning for and working with Sawyer after he became governor. Denton then explains the controversy regarding Denton’s accepting of complimentary services (comps) at hotels. He later describes his work as a Clark County Commissioner and then talks about working as district attorney in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Denton then talks about the influences that led him to be interested in a career of law and later speaks more about working with Grant Sawyer, specifically about serving as his adviser, afterwards providing the argument on why he believes Sawyer was the greatest governor of Nevada. Toward the latter part of the interview, Denton describes his work on improving civil rights and some of the challenges that came with that. The two also discuss how the practice of law has changed over time. To conclude the interview, Denton describes his experience in running for governor and how he would have served as governor if he had been elected.
On February 27, 1977, Roger Jablonski interviewed Betty Ham Dokter (born 1922 in Las Vegas, Nevada) about her life in Southern Nevada. Dokter first talks about her upbringing and education in Las Vegas before describing church activity and the first casino properties that were built. She later talks about presidential visits, economic changes in Nevada, the construction of Hoover Dam, and some of the social changes in Las Vegas. The latter part of the interview covers the topics of racial minorities, environmental changes, early grocery stores and movie theaters, and social clubs. The interview concludes with a brief discussion on Mt. Charleston.
Courtney Mooney is the Urban Design Coordinator for the City of Las Vegas. Her job description includes a knowledge of historic preservation, which is her passion. In this interview she shares her professional and personal thoughts about John S. Park Neighborhood. She moved to John S. Park in 2002. As a professional she explains that "how I look at preserving neighborhoods or buildings, is more of a community preservation, not saving the individual building for the individual building's sake..." Courtney offers a big picture of the neighborhood's past, present and future. John S. Park, like so many other Las Vegas neighborhoods, was built during World War II and has been affected by history of segregation and the wave of changing demographics, and the work that went into the plan and requirements to be designated a historic neighborhood. Courtney provides a summary of the story about the land, its ownership and what lead to the foundation of the neighborhood: from John S. Park to George Franklin and John Law, to Mary Dutton and explains how the proposed development of the land differed from other communities being built to FHA standards and specifics that declared Las Vegas a Defense City in the 1940s. She lists the factors that made the neighborhood a logical and important target for the historic designation, a small neighborhood tucked away, that is "a snapshot of the types of people that were coming here," filled with community leaders, entrepreneurs, blue-collar and casino workers. She also mentions about the missed opportunity of the Las Vegas High School neighborhood for preservation while supporting the John S. Park designation.
Catherine (Cathy) Morales-Jackson grew up in the suburban tranquility of Hazlet, New Jersey, with five siblings, a stay-at-home mom and her father, who served the community as mayor and as a school board member. In 1981, "on the day Princess Diana go married," Cathy moved to Las Vegas with her boyfriend/future husband and her mother-in-law. Life in Las Vegas was distinctively different than living in New Jersey she explains. For the next 15 years, they lived at Delta Gardens apartments on Paradise. She started working at UNLV's library as it was moving into a new building. He first position was in the periodicals and microfilm area and in binding. She contrasts both details of the campus and the city then with how it is today. At the time of this interview, Cathy was taking an early retirement at the age of 51. She provides a retrospective of a range of library topics: from the thousands of volumes she bound to the move to Lied Library, from a Celebrity Pancake fundraiser to staff parties, and from the implementation of a campus parking fee to the various library organizations that she has belonged to over the years. Cathy loved her years in the university libraries and feels that the current budget crises is the biggest change she has witnessed. Retirement came at an opportune time for her, but she worries about the future for others.
In 1976, when Bob Campbell accepted the city manager position in Henderson, Nevada, he and his family had just endured nearly a month of sub-zero temperatures in their native Missouri. Southern Nevada's mild winter coupled with the promise of developing the 8,600 acres that would become Green Valley convinced Bob and his wife, Pat, to make the move. Bob came to Henderson with a degree in public administration and city manager experience in two Missouri towns, but Green Valley offered something akin to "an artist having a blank canvas on which to plan and create." In this interview, Bob talks about the ways his career in public administration blossomed in Southern Nevada. After about five years with the City of Henderson, Campbell joined Mark Fine and American Nevada Corporation to develop Green Valley; five years after that, he moved to Southwest Gas Corporation to work with Bill Laub and later, Kenny Guinn. From about 1989 to 1997, he helped develop Lake Las Vegas. In 1994, Bob and Pat together formed The Campbell Company, a private consulting firm whose clients included Transcontinental Properties' Lake Las Vegas project as well as Henry Chen's Ascaya. v Much of the interview focuses on the Lake Las Vegas project: its original visionary, false starts, and its tumultuous development as an arm of the Bass brothers of Fort Worth, Texas; their developer, Ronald Boeddeker of Transcontinental Properties in Santa Barbara, California, and Boeddeker's appointee, Alton Jones. Along the way Campbell shares the strategies employed by the Wednesday morning group of Henderson boosters who met at Saint Peter's Catholic Church and who succeeded in gaining the necessary local, state, and federal approvals to move the project forward. He reveals the intimidation, physical threats, and sexual harassment suffered by those who questioned the way Jones did business. Overall, though, he explains why he continues to respect the Bass brothers and is still proud of Lake Las Vegas, "proud that we got it on, and proud that it's turned out to be what it is."
On January 14, 1975, collector James Greene interviewed foreman, Neil H. Holmes (born on November 16th, 1897, in Chicopee, Kansas) in his home in Boulder City, Nevada. This interview covers the early days in Boulder City. Mr. Holmes also discusses the local education system, family life, employment opportunities, housing, and the building of Hoover Dam.