Jay Sarno (right) with an unidentified man at a Circus Saints and Sinners Club event, probably in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sarno has a mock noose around his neck and is wearing a costume centurion's helmet. The other man holds up a toilet seat framing Sarno's portrait. The Circus Saints and Sinners Club of America is a national charitable organization.
Interviewed by Monserrath Hernández. Francisco 'Cisco' Aguilar is a lawyer and the Founding Chairman of the Cristo Rey St. Viator College Preparatory High School. He talks about growing up in Tucson, Arizona in a Mexican household and continuing his passions to engage in social change as a lawyer. His career and community engagement led him to become a lobbyist, a fellow in Germany, and serve on various committees such as the Catholic Charities Board, Opportunity 180 Board, and the Nevada Athletic Commission. His oral history demonstrates his dedication to providing a future to the Latinx youth of Las Vegas.
On November 20, 1975, C.A. (Robin) Ducharme interviewed Nellie Bunch (born 1902 in Chariton County, MO) about her life in Southern Nevada. Bunch first talks about her settlement into the Whitney Ranch area and her knowledge about the building of Hoover (Boulder) Dam. She also talks about the early utilization of water resources from Lake Mead, early sources of power, and the early use of evaporative coolers. Bunch also speaks about her experience as a postmaster and later discusses telephone technology and the early churches of Las Vegas.
Dr. Blair Hale has been practicing dentistry in Las Vegas for over thirty years. He was born in Idaho in 1949, the third of four children born to Zendal McKay and Lenny Raymond Hale. His education includes semesters at BYU, El Camino City College, and a dental degree from Washington University. Dr. Hale recounts his experiences as an undergraduate at Washington University in Missouri, living in a dorm situation and signing for government loans. He also examines his early days in Las Vegas and the ease with which he obtained bank loans to start his business back in 1976. At that time there were relatively few dentists practicing in Las Vegas, and when he was the dentist society president in 1985, he knew most dentists by name. Blair explains his work with the Academy of LDS Dentists, which sends groups of dentists to Guatemala, Peru, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic to run week-long free clinics. The clinics not only treat the dental problems of the populace, but also serve as instructional seminars for local practitioners. In addition to running a practice and doing charitable work outside the country, Dr. Hale also teaches at UNLV's dental clinic one day per week. He describes the changes in technology, technique, and materials over the years, and the quality education future dentists receive at UNLV. He also delineates the differences dental work can make in a patient's life, not just aesthetically but emotionally and physically as well. Dr. Hale comments on the dynamics behind the large influx of dentists in the 90s, the future of health care in Las Vegas, and the impact of third-party carriers in the dental profession. He believes that dentistry is a wonderful profession and that students can receive an excellent education at any good dental school in the United States. His sons are contemplating following him into this field.
Flo Mlynarczyk began life in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Her parents divorced and she moved with her mother first to Loveland and eventually to Los Angeles. Her mother started the first Red Cross in Bell Gardens, oversaw the building of their home, and raised money for various charities. Flo remembers when the Japanese were rounded up and interred during WWII. She was in grade school and recalls that one day they all just disappeared. Upon graduation from high school in 1943, Flo moved to Kodiak, Alaska, to live with friends. She recalls total blackouts on the streets of Kodiak due to the war, the Short Snorter Club, and her return to California after a bout of pneumonia. Back in Bell Gardens, Flo worked for a department store, married and divorced in 1945, gave birth to her son Michael in 1946, and ended up in Tonopah, Nevada, with a sister who ran a cafe there. After a second marriage ended, Flo moved to Las Vegas and began working at Phelps Pump and Equipment as a bookkeeper.