Oral history interview with Patricia Lee conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee White on September 19, 2023 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Lee begins the interview by discussing her childhood in Daegu, South Korea, born to a Black American father and a Korean mother. Patricia Lee arrived in the United States with her parents as a young child when the U.S. Air Force transferred her father to Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. Lee was seven when her father left. With her mother speaking no English, Lee was responsible for her family's food stamps and social services even as they endured serial evictions and homelessness that included a stay in a shelter for abused women. In middle school, Upward Bound was Lee's "game-changer." As she had in high school, Lee immersed herself in student life and academics at the University of Southern California, while also working several jobs. After graduation, she worked at the California Science Center Museum before entering law school at George Washington University. She graduated in May 2002, shortly after the legal profession had lost several top law firms that had been headquartered in New York City's Twin Towers. When she accepted an offer from Las Vegas firm Hutchison & Steffen, she became the firm's first woman attorney and first attorney of color; seven years later, she became the firm's first woman partner and first partner of color. Lee was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nevada in November 2022 by Governor Steve Sisolak.
Archival Collection
Looking northwest through the remains of St. Thomas towards the site of the Lost City
Transcribed Notes: Bureau of Reclamation typed notes appended to back of photo: Townsite of St. Thomas, Nevada--Moapa Valley Project--Nevada A view of a portion of the townsite of St. Thomas, Nevada, settled by the Mormons in 1865, during a period of low water elevation in Lake Mead, above Hoover Dam. The town was first covered by Lake Mead in June 1938.
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Report with photos that details flood control work completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Nevada during the winter of 1933-34.
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