On March 1st, 1981, Glorialyn Gutierrez interviewed Emily McKinley (b. April 28, 1930 in Las Vegas, Nevada) about her life in the Las Vegas Valley. McKinley begins by speaking about her childhood, her siblings and her extended family. McKinley gives a variety of anecdotes about being raised in Las Vegas, her family’s economic hardships and the house she grew up in. Lastly, McKinley talks about the businesses she owned with her husband, their hardships and her time working multiple jobs.

Patricia Mulroy served Las Vegas as the general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District from 1989 to 2014. She served the state of Nevada as the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority from 1993 to 2014. Patricia helped to build the Authority, and saw the state through the devastating drought of the Colorado River. Patricia was born in Frankfurt, Germany on February 24, 1953. As a young girl, she lived in several different countries, but always felt that the United States was her home. Her experiences abroad led her to develop a fascination with government work and state service. She arrived in Nevada in 1974 to attend UNLV. In 1989, Patricia became the general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District. She entered the field at a tumultuous time, facing the drought of the Colorado River and tension within the districts. She pioneered the Water Authority, which revolutionized southern Nevada’s water rights system and allowed the districts to deal with the is

S. Charles Snavely, a long-time Las Vegas pediatrician, arrived in Nevada in 1965 with his wife, Ann, and two children courtesy of the United States Air Force. The family lived at Nellis Air Force Base while Charlie completed his Barry Plan commitment to the military. In separate interviews, Charlie and Ann discuss their arrival in Las Vegas, their first house in the Glen Heather area of Ward 1, and their current house in the Scotch 80s (pictured above). Charlie and Ann met at a small private hospital in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where Ann was working as a nurse. The two University of Pennsylvania graduates, now married 63 years, raised their children in their Scotch 80s house and so far have not been tempted to move elsewhere.

Cathie and Chris Millson moved to Las Vegas with their one-year-old daughter, Nicole, in 1984 following Chris’s completion of a cardio-thoracic anesthesiology fellowship in Atlanta, Georgia. Their two other children were born in Las Vegas. Shortly after they arrived they purchased the Rancho Bel Air house where they currently reside. Cathie talks about raising her children and living in Rancho Bel Air, a gated neighborhood of custom houses, which grew to maturity after the Millsons moved in. Cathie’s memories chronicle the growth of Las Vegas from small town to large city, how a certain segment of the population lived and entertained, and how downtown revitalization has brought young people back to Rancho Bel Air to raise their families.

Nora Luna (1971 - ), the daughter of Mexican immigrants, recalls her growing up experience in the Las Vegas Valley. During her childhood, she and her siblings frequently persuaded their father to take them out to eat to the Circus Circus buffet. She enjoyed playing the carnival games at the Circus Circus. She attended Las Vegas High School. In 1994, she graduated from UNLV with a degree in criminal justice. Her education inspired her to work with the community’s youth. She tutored children at the Y.M.C.A. of Southern Nevada. Luna also worked for a program, Anahuac, which sought to deconstruct some of the myths that often prevent Latinos from attending college. In Reno, Nevada she worked with non-profit organizations to implement evidence-based practices for youth development. Luna has worked for Nathan Adelson Hospice as the Director of Diversity and Grant Funding since 2008. She seeks to find culturally competent care for Latinos and ensures that the hospice provides informational r

Interviewed by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez. Barbara Tabach also participates in the questioning. Valorie J Vega was born in raised in Los Angeles County. Her father, Fred Vega, was one of the first firefighters hired in the Los Angeles County area. Vega was one of three children, and remembers spending her childhood surrounded by family. In college, Vega began studying biology only to realize that she was better suited studying Spanish. Upon completion of her undergrad, Vega went on to earn a Master's in Spanish interpretation. As a result of her studies, Vega was able to secure a job in the Court Interpreter program in Las Vegas, moving here in 1978. Her position in the interpreter program, led her to pursue a degree in law which in turn led to a successful career as a lawyer and a judge.

Prior to 1962, Helen Naugle had only visited Las Vegas once in her life while traveling from Idaho to California for a vacation with her husband and her boss. The group made a quick stop so her boss could interview for a position with EG&G and, as fate would have it, EG&G did not hire Helen’s boss. However, they did extend a job offer to Helen’s husband. A month later, Helen, her two daughters, and her husband became residents of Las Vegas, Nevada. Before moving to Nevada, Helen enjoyed singing in super clubs and performing on her radio show, “Melodies from Meadowland” and working for American Machine and Foundry. Upon her arrival in Las Vegas, Helen went to work for Bonanza Airlines before attending real estate school. In 1963, Helen opened her first office, Bruce Realty, and in 1965, she obtained her Broker’s license. She spent the next ten years selling general real estate. During this period, Helen was an active member of the Board of Realtors, as well as an early participant in the Board’s newly formed Women’s Council. Fate would strike again in Helen’s life while she was visiting her daughter at college in Arizona where she read an article in the Phoenix newspaper about a group of brokers who had formed a networking association to sell hotels and motels across the country. As a result of her initial contact with this association, Helen spent the next four decades selling hotels and motels throughout the State of Nevada, including Las Vegas, Elko, Tonopah, and Wells. She eventually became the first woman President of the American National Hotel-Motel Association. The cultural diversity of hotel and motel buyers would provide Helen with opportunities to travel the world and work with buyers from many different countries and cultural backgrounds. It also led to Helen’s membership in the FIABCI (International Real Estate Federation) and her Certified International Property Specialist and Federation of International Property Consultants certifications. Helen was also selected by the Association to represent the Air Force as “Innkeeper Evaluator” for one year. This honor took her to five Air Force bases in the United States and to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. During Helen’s career in hotel and motel real estate sales, she witnessed the transition from “mom-and-pop” American buyers to the influx of international buyers predominately from East India and Asia. The opportunities for helping repeat buyers and sellers gradually went away, as foreign buyers entered the market and tended to resell their properties to friends and family members from their own countries. During the latter part of her career, Helen found time to give back to the Las Vegas community through her volunteer work helping to establish the Scleroderma Foundation of Nevada. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Downtown Las Vegas Partnership where she focused on public safety in the area encompassing the Fremont Street Experience. Her work with both of these organizations allowed her to draw on her career experience for the benefit of others. Whether it was fate, or as Helen put it, she “just lucked into a lot of things,” one thing is certain - Helen Naugle was certainly a trail blazer for women in the hotel-motel niche of the real estate business, not only in Nevada, but across the nation.