Oral history interview with Marvelys Lopez Omaña conducted by Monserrath Hernandez and Barbara Tabach on February 21, 2020 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Marvelys Lopez discusses her childhood and growing up in Caracas, Venezuela, where her father owned a toy store. She attended an all-girls Catholic School and from a young age knew that she wanted to be a doctor. In 1993, at the age of seventeen, she was able to study abroad in the United States for one year and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. She returned to Venezuela to attend medical school and while attending medical school she met her husband, who was studying to be a registered nurse at the time. Lopez Omaña recalls volunteering as a firefighter in Venezuela, and discusses the political change that happened in Venezuela during her last years in medical school. She moved to back Las Vegas with her husband in 2003 and began working as a caregiver. She recounts Her first son's birth story, and describes how she became a Certified Professional Midwife.
Interviewed by Maribel Estrada Calderón. Claytee White also participates in the questioning. Eddie Escobedo was born in 1961 and two years later, he and his family immigrated to the United States. He fondly remembers his father, Edmundo Escobedo. Escobedo is currently in charge of the newspaper that his father started, El Mundo Newspaper.
During this oral history, Rabbi Yocheved Mintz weaves the journey of her life before and during her move to Las Vegas. She recalls thinking the "whole world was Jewish" growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and discusses finding a community in Las Vegas, and becoming a rabbi in 2004.
Yocheved (nee Porath) Mintz is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, where she grew up surrounded by Jewish tradition and teachings. Her grandfather was Rabbi Israel Porath and inspiration to become the family?s first female rabbi. She was ordained in May 2004. The next year she became the second spiritual leader of Valley Outreach Synagogue, now known as P?nai Tikvah. She soon was known as a tireless and inspirational rabbi for the entire Jewish community of Las Vegas. After eleven years, on June 17-18, 2016, Rabbi Mintz?s life and dedication to being Jewish were celebrated. She transitioned to be Rabbi Emerita/Senior Educator. Before moving from Chicago to Las Vegas in 1999 she was abundantly busy with raising four sons she had with her husband the late Dr. Alan Mintz (1938-2007). However, she also managed to pursue her education, become an interior designer, and co-found with her friend Etty Dolgin, a Jewish education consulting firm called Kesher Team. Yet there was a lingering goal to become a rabbi. Throughout her life, Yocheved eagerly studied various approaches to living a Jewish life. So once she had settled into Las Vegas, she began her commute to Los Angeles to study at the Academy for Jewish Religion, a trans-denominational seminary. She interned at Temple Beth Sholom and has been involved in Jewish education locally and nationally. She has served as the first president of the Las Vegas Board of Rabbis and on the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada.