Interview with Adele Baratz by Steve McClenachan on March 3 and 4, 1979. In this interview, Baratz talks about growing up in Las Vegas and her her schooling. She graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1944, and discusses the rationing that took place during World War II. She went to Maryland for nursing school and returned to Las Vegas in 1947. She describes some of the hotels and casinos, and tells the story of her father trading property for an automobile in 1935. She also recalls the building of Hoover Dam, swimming in local pools, and going to Mount Charleston in the winter. The interviewer asks her about travel between Las Vegas and California and the impact of Atlantic City on Las Vegas tourism. Baratz then talks about her nursing career and starting a re-certification program in 1974 and the different hospitals in the area.

Arne Rosencrantz is the former president and owner of Garrett's Furniture in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rosencrantz was born on September 27, 1947 in Longview, Washington. He moved to Las Vegas in 1952 and attended Nevada Southern University, now known as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). In 1967, Rosencrantz began working at Garrett's Furniture, and in 1979, he purchased the company and became its president. He was president of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas from 1987 to 1988, and also served as a campaign chairman for the Federation and chairman of its Young Leadership Program. In this interview, Rosencrantz shares his grandparents and father?s immigration story, which took them from Russian to Portland, Oregon. He also talks about moving to Las Vegas, his childhood experiences, especially within the Jewish community, and reflects on the growth of his family?s furniture business in the city. Rosencrantz has been highly involved in the Jewish community over the decades, including the Young Leadership Program, United Jewish Appeal, Temple Beth Sholom, and the Jewish Federation. He is married to Lynn Rosencrantz and has two children, Marcus and Amy.

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.

Rory Reid works in the Downtown Las Vegas building fully tattooed with a mural depicting a hand holding a bouquet of flowers of which the glowing central bloom is half brain and half heart. The story behind the mural is essential to understanding why the oldest of Landra and Harry Reid’s five children loves coming to work. Born in Alexandria, Virginia, he arrived in Las Vegas as a six-month-old with his parents and led a story-book life in the Reid house on Gretel Circle, down the street from Hansel Circle and right off Lilliput Lane. After attending Doris Hancock Elementary School, James Cashman Junior High School, and Ed W. Clark High School, he served a church mission in Argentina and studied international relations and Spanish and then law at Brigham Young University before returning to Las Vegas and joining Lionel Sawyer and Collins law firm. In this interview, Reid talks about administrative law, about leaving the firm to become an executive with Lady Luck Gaming Corporation, serving as Nevada Democratic Party chair for two years, and returning to Lionel Sawyer and Collins in 2000, where he remained until 2014. He shares his motivations for running for the District G seat on the Clark County Commission in 2002, and talks about the political climate in which he took office in 2003, a few months before fellow Commissioners Dario Herrera; Lance Malone; Erin Kenny, and chair Mary Kincaid Chauncey were indicted on federal charges following Operation G Sting. Following these highly public arrests, Reid focused on restoring faith in local government. In 2010, after two terms as Clark County Commissioner and Commission chair, Reid ran for Governor of Nevada as the Democratic nominee against Brian Sandoval. In that election, as Reid puts it, "the voters told me to do something else with my life," and he returned to his law practice. However, in June of 2014, his dear friend Jim Rogers passed away. The day after Rogers died Reid discovered that he was named co-trustee of Rogers's estate, along with his widow, Beverly. Reid and Beverly Rogers together founded The Rogers Foundation to be the primary advocate for public education in Nevada. The Rogers Foundation is housed in Downtown Las Vegas in the building tattooed with the bouquet. The mural-the Wall of Understanding-is The Rogers Foundation's answer to political calls for "building a wall" and a show of solidarity with the students they serve, many of whom are undocumented immigrants or have undocumented immigrant family members. For the man who helped restore the reputation of Clark County government and who emphatically declines to run for further public office, fulfilling the mission and the work of The Rogers Foundation is one of his greatest joys-along with his family; his beagle, Oakey; and watching Liverpool compete in the English Premier League (especially when Liverpool plays his brother's favorite team, Manchester United).