Donna Newsom shares the history of her life in great detail, beginning with her childhood in Georgia and Florida. The family moved many times, following her father's work opportunities. Donna had a close relationship with her father and recalls the many daring adventures on which he took her. After graduating from high school, Donna earned a nursing degree at the Macon Hospital School of Nursing. She remembers dorm life, long hours, and the specific training nurses received in the late forties. Her career began at age 19 with a year of working at Macon Hospital as a graduate nurse, and then she made plans to leave the South. Donna's memories include moving to Houston, living in a boarding house, her first date, and working at Hermann Hospital and then Methodist Hospital. She then answered an ad to work at a Girl Scout camp in Colorado, and her roommate there became a mentor and one of her staunchest supporters. With help from her mentor, Donna went on to earn a teaching degree in Austin, Texas, met and married her husband Sam Newsom, and got involved in real estate. She relates the many experiences they had during Sam's Navy career, her teaching experience in New Orleans, and their eventual move to Las Vegas. Sam and Donna loved Las Vegas from the moment they moved here. She recalls many details of her employment at UMC, the differences in health care compared to down south, and the feeling of being safe no matter the time of day or night. Donna stays active in tutoring, the OLLI program at UNLV, and working for the Salvation Army women's auxiliary. She and Sam also get together with his golfing buddies and their wives for dinners in their various homes.

Dennis Ortwein arrived in Las Vegas in 1956. He shares many details about growing up in Montana, his parents and siblings, his education, and the moment in time when he was offered an opportunity to work in Las Vegas. He also lays out the path his singing career took, starting with school plays, duets with his sister, and high school quartets. Once in Las Vegas, Dennis taught for a while, served as principal, and was involved in creating programs that helped integrate schools. He also talks about his church choir work, entertainment in early Las Vegas, above-ground testing at the Nevada Test Site, and anti-nuclear protests. Dennis served as lab school and student teaching coordinator in Nigeria. He offers several anecdotes and stories about the time he and his family spent there. After retiring early (age 53), Dennis acted as consultant to the Esmeralda County school board, executive director for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and wrote a book. He is currently enjoying his singing career by appearing at conventions, in musicals, and at weddings and memorials.

Amber Allan grew up in West Virginia and moved to Las Vegas at the age of 16. She entered the gaming industry in 2000 as a change person at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder where she later held the positions of floorperson and assistant shift manager. Allan would eventually move to Santa Fe Station in 2005 as relief shift manager, later to the Texas Station as a shift manager, and then to Palace Station in 2008 into the slot operations and technical manager role. She then returned to Texas Station at the end of 2008 as director of slot operations and then moved to Aliante Station into the same role in 2009. Allan started at Konami Gaming, Inc. in 2012 where she has worked as an analyst, product specialist, and, currently, as technical sales executive. The interview with Allan begins with her discussion of moving to Las Vegas and the experiences and roles she held as she started in the gaming industry. She discusses the various responsibilities she had in those roles, the types of skills required for them, and the kinds of disputes that are handled in certain supervisory positions. Allan also mentions and discusses the topic of hold percentage as it relates to slot and video poker players. She later describes her philosophy on what makes a good slot floor and also what customers are looking for in slots. Allan then provides the details of her move to the manufacturing side of the slot industry, and she gives her thoughts on what makes both a good and bad slot manager. The interview then shifts to the discussion of free slot play; ticket-in, ticket-out; changes in slot management; and the future of slot machines. The interview concludes with Allan’s discussion of her personal gambling as well as her advice for young people who want to go into the slot industry.

As Las Vegas native Jim Olson looks back on his law career, he keeps returning to the case that gouged a sooty scar on his memory, altered legal practice and technology in Southern Nevada, captured the world's imagination, and changed international building codes-the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino fire of November 21, 1980, that killed 85 people and took eight years to litigate. Olson became involved with the litigation because his firm, Cromer, Barker, and Michaelson, represented the MGM Grand's insurance company, INA, Insurance Company of North America. Juggling thousands of claims, Olson ended up working with the MGM's corporate counsel in Los Angeles, a legal firm in Denver, Lloyd's of London, and a special master; renting additional office space for taking depositions; hiring graveyard-shift transcribers, and purchasing the legal world's latest technological marvel-a fax machine. As a first grader, five-year-old Jim was known to walk home during the school day whenever the St. Joseph nuns scared him. As an attorney whose career path was inspired by Perry Mason and augmented by his argumentative streak, Jim offers insights into litigation about some of Southern Nevada's most iconic buildings, signs, and spaces. In this interview, he recalls his mentors, Al Gunderson, George Cromer, Bill Barker, and Kent Michaelson. He talks of construction defect cases including his first MGM Grand litigation, in which his firm represented the architect, Martin Stern, when faulty siding fell off the building, and the 1994 lawsuits that followed when the top of the newly constructed, 365-foot Las Vegas Hilton sign blew down in a windstorm. He shares tales of legendary fellow attorney Mike Hines and his annual Nevada Bar Association parties on the Mike Hines Ranch, and he speaks to litigation between Hank Greenspun, Howard Hughes, and Hughes Tool Company.

At the time of this interview, Don Ross has devoted nearly four inspirational decades of his life in the hotel and hospitality industry. In December 1987, at the age of 29, he accepted a position with Caesars and is now the Vice President of Catering, Conventions & Events for Caesars Palace Las Vegas. Don shares personal stories that lead to his “Don-mode” of providing a high level of customer service. From experiences with his grandparents to an extraordinary upbringing in his parents’ business, Green Chimneys, in Brewster, New York, Don received a surprisingly well-rounded educational foundation. As Don discovered his natural innate ability to serve others in the hospitality industry, he thrived and has never looked back. In recent years, his leadership talents and giving nature have been honored. In 2009, he was one of three distinguished industry executives recognized for their exceptional contributions to the hospitality industry as an “Industry Executive of the Year” during UNLV Harrah College of Hotel Administration’s 5th Annual Vallen Dinner of Distinction. Over the years, he has been honored for his work with Opportunity Village, his Jewish community involvement, and his continued work with Green Chimneys among many other organizations and causes.

As Jelindo Tiberti describes his childhood as the youngest of five children growing up on 15th Street, he chronicles a seemingly idyllic time of playing with a large group of neighborhood friends, of doing outdoor chores with his brothers, of spending summers at the family cabin in Utah, of high school dances, and as a high school junior, of meeting Sandee, whom he would marry within two months after they both graduated from the University of Southern California. He talks about his parents: about working for and with his namesake father; about taking his mother to her daily radiation treatments, about cooking his mother's recipes, and about his mother making sure her youngest child earned his college degree before he married. He explains the ubiquity of fencing and shares his experience of taking over Tiberti Fence Company, of retiring and selling the company, and of starting over with Red Star Fence Company. Throughout, Tiberti speaks to living with dyslexia: of attending an after-s

Visionary John Acres likes to use his engineering background and computer expertise to solve problems. He has sold more companies that most people ever form—Electronic Data Technologies, Mikohn Gaming, and Acres Gaming—and he still owns the Acres 4.0 and Gen Seven companies. The 2016 Inductee to the American Gaming Association and the University of Nevada Las Vegas Gaming Hall of Fame reshaped the gaming industry by inventing electronic player tracking, progressive jackpot systems, and loyalty programs. Each innovation focused on customer service—"what would the customer think; what would they like; what would really get them excited; what would get them to come back"—and harkened back to lessons taught him by Norman Little, manager of Mr. Sy's Casino of Fun and one of the first people to hire a teenaged John Acres. In this interview, Acres bookends his remarkable career in gaming with the customer service philosophy of Norman Little as the basis, culminating with solutions to enable g