Lee Cagely, an interior designer and professor who designed some of the most iconic hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada, was born in the Panama Canal Zone on January 31, 1951. His father Leo was a civil engineer for the Panama Canal Company and his mother Charlotte worked as a receptionist. After his father left his job in Panama, Lee spent his childhood in Dallas, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Des Moines, Iowa. He started to attend Rice University for architecture, but he chose to leave before completing his degree. He returned to college a few years later and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in interior design in 1975. While his first California jobs were in restaurant design, he quickly moved on to airports and hotels and moved to Las Vegas in 1990 after associating with Marnell Architecture. Cagley is known for his designs in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, Ceasars Palace Atlantic City, the Mirage, and the Bellagio Resort & Casino. He is currently Chair of the Iowa State University College of Design and is principal designer for Lee Cagely Design. Here, Cagley explains the importance of keeping the various pieces of the infrastructure of a resort—including landscape architecture, architecture, interior design, all kinds of HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] concerns, housekeeping, food service, maintenance, etc.-invisible in order to maximize the visitor experience. At the same time he illustrates through several examples how resort design does not happen in a vacuum-it is instead part of a complex team that works together to create the whole. He also describes the challenges the Las Vegas resort industry finds in creating the very best visitor experience for a broad range of groups-from Millennials to their Boomer grandparents and all the generations in between.

Interviewed by Barbara Tabach. Born and raised in Zacatecas, Mexico, Irma moved to Las Vegas in 1989. She is the Cultural Program Supervisor at Winchester Community Center and has devoted much of her career to preserving Hispanic cultural traditions in Las Vegas. She has been an active leader in local events such as Community Roots, International Food & Folk Life Festival, World Vibrations, and Dio de Los Muertos.

Myoung-ja Lee Kwon began her life on the grounds of the Kyongbok Palace in Korea. In a country where education is valued, her father's occupation as a university professor meant that the family was highly honored, thus this palatial space allowed them live in a state of prosperity. But war changed these circumstances and in this interview Kwon vividly explains the family's evolution. In 1965, after graduation from Seoul National University she married and a year later, moved to the United State of America where she earned a Master's degree in Library Science in Provo, Utah. Her first professional position was at the University of Nevada Las Vegas as a cataloguer and after many promotions, became interim dean of UNLV Libraries. In 2001, she took the job as Dean of Libraries at California State East Bay Library, retiring in 2008. Currently, she serves as a special lecturer and discussion leader with the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program. During her 2009 visit to Korea, she pr

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.

On February 28, 1980, Rodney Goosby interviewed Al McDaniels (b. 1940 in Muskogee, Oklahoma) about his life in Las Vegas and his career as an athletic coach. McDaniels, referred to as Coach by Goosby, speaks primarily about his time as a coach for track and field at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, his community involvement and the city’s recreational activities. Moreover, McDaniels speaks about his education and his current research as he works on a doctoral degree in physical education. Lastly, he talks about the city’s growth and the move from empty desert spaces to housing and shopping center constructions.

From the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas, OH-01039. On March 25, 1981, collector Sonny Neighbors interviewed his mother, Margo Knowles (born October 13th, 1935 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Margo speaks about growing up and going to school in Las Vegas. She also discusses her work as a telephone operator in Las Vegas, and at the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada.

On March 12, 1977, Lance Kenny interviewed realtor, Doris Evans (born in Dexter, Missouri) at her place of business, Doris Evans Realty, located at 1100 Cahlan Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers Boulder City and Las Vegas [1937-1977]. During the interview Doris discusses real estate, local hotels, early transportation, and social recreation. She also mentions the nuclear tests, crime, environmental changes, and marriage and family life in Boulder City and Las Vegas. Doris’s business partner, Patty (Renette Beringer), is also present during the interview and helps Doris recall the year they started Doris Evans Realty in Las Vegas, Nevada.