Flora Mason (1940- ) is a Las Vegas, Nevada philanthropist and community leader. She was born Florica Esformes to a Sephardic Jewish parents who emigrated from Greece to New York. This Mediterranean influence can be seen in the meals she serves for the Jewish holidays. Flora?s grandfather had a pushcart business in New York and her father became a produce broker, which led the family to Miami, Florida. She graduated from high school in Miami and also met Stuart Mason there. The young couple married in 1958. They had been married for 58 years when Stuart passed away in 2012. In this oral history, Flora recalls her life?from witnessing signage that read: no blacks, no dogs, no Jews in the South to meeting her husband while a teenager to raising her three children in Las Vegas. Along the way, she has always found time to form fast friendships and to inspire productive community organizations. v For example, Flora and Stuart founded the Las Vegas Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in 1970. It was a disease that their daughter Deborah had suffered from. They also established the Mason Undergraduate Peer Coach Program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries in 2006. Flora was the first woman elected by the general membership to serve on the Temple Beth Sholom Board of Directors. She has served on the National Board of Directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, been involved with the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, the Anti-Defamation League among many other Jewish and non-Jewish community organizations. Flora?s college education began at the University of Miami and focused on completing both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at UNLV, where she majored in English literature. She then became a lecturer in the UNLV English department from 1985 to 1993. Flora and Stuart Mason had three children: sons William and James who joined the family?s successful three-generation commercial construction business Taylor International, and daughter Deborah. In this oral history, Flora shares the joy of being a grandparent, her love of travel, and the opportunities of meeting Israeli dignitaries over the years. She also candidly reflects on dealing with grief and the Jewish rituals surrounding death.

Marilyn Glovinsky discusses her upbringing in New York and moving to Las Vegas. She was involved in establishing Congregation Ner Tamid. Her daughter, Melissa, talks about growing up in Las Vegas and attending Hebrew Academy.

Marilyn Glovinsky was born January 20, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a teacher, Lilyan, and police sergeant, Solomon Goldberg. Marilyn split her childhood between New York City and Los Angeles, where she spent the summers with her maternal grandparents. In 1963, she graduated with a bachelor?s degree in speech pathology from Brooklyn College. A year later she married, and the couple soon moved to Salt Lake City, where her husband had been hired as a graduate assistant at the University of Utah. In Salt Lake City, Marilyn worked as a first grade teacher. It was there that she attended her first High Holidays service, at the Reform synagogue. It wasn?t long before her husband enlisted in the United States Navy, and they were stationed Camp Legeune, North Carolina, for nearly three years. The couple later moved back to Utah, where their children Melissa and David were born. In June of 1974, Marilyn and her family moved to Las Vegas. She quickly integrated herself into the Jewish community, and was amongst a small group of families that started Congregation Ner Tamid. She went on to play a critical role in the growth of the synagogue, including taking on an interim operations management role at one time, and also leading the development of the Hebrew School, to tremendous success. Marilyn?s daughter has emulated her mother?s dedication to making Judaism accessible to members of the local community, particularly through education and social activities. Even as a fifth grader at the Hebrew Academy, Melissa took on additional responsibilities, assisting in the school office. Now, in addition to her job as a teacher at Doral Academy, Melissa teaches b?nai mitzvah, conversion and Hebrew School classes at Ner Tamid. She also leads programming for NextGen, a group dedicated to creating community amongst young Jewish adults in their 20s and 30s. Melissa is married to Todd Lemoine, and they have one child named Colton.

Rabbi Bradley Tecktiel was born June 28, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City to attend university, where he received two Bachelor of Arts degrees: one from List College and one from Columbia University. He went on to achieve a Master?s degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Soon after graduating in 1996, Rabbi Tecktiel accepted his first clergy position in New Rochelle, New York. From there he went on to lead a congregation in Louisville, Kentucky, before eventually moving to Las Vegas to become the spiritual leader of Midbar Kodesh Temple in 2008. In this interview, Rabbi Tecktiel discusses the path that eventually brought him, his wife, Susan, and their three children to Las Vegas. He talks about his passion for developing Jewish community engagement and programming, and specifically about Midbar Kodesh Temple initiatives, including Yom HaShoah and educational programming. In addition, Rabbi Tecktiel reflects upon the growth of the Jewish community, both those affiliated and unaffiliated, and the impact of Jews on Las Vegas?, as well as Nevada?s, development.