Della Mae Rostine left Missouri with her husband, Rocco, in 1942, and headed to Las Vegas. Happy to leave behind the hard life and instability the mining industry had to offer, after living in Las Vegas for the first year the couple settled in Henderson, Nevada, known as the townsite at that time. Della Mae’s oral history provides readers with a glimpse of what life was like for the 14,000-plus individuals and families who also moved to southern Nevada during the same period in order to make a living in the growing “war work” industry the area had to offer. Della Mae shares the hardships faced in finding housing, especially for families with children. She discusses challenges ranging from securing home furnishings to purchasing groceries, including the rations on gasoline and butter at that time. Della Mae also discusses her experiences with the Basic Magnesium plant where her husband was hired as a construction worker in the early days of the plant and where she would work briefly as a machinist making shell casings and monitoring the down time on the production line. She also touches briefly on the social opportunities the BMI plant, and later Rheem Manufacturing, offered to the workers and their families. When World War II ended, more than half of residents of the townsite left, leaving fewer than 7,000 people to form what would later become the city of Henderson, Nevada. Della Mae’s oral history is a brief overview of a family life which began when BMI was just getting off the ground and continued through the many changes that took place in the BMI complex and the town site over several decades. The timing of the Rostine family’s arrival and the fact that they stayed and made a permanent home in Henderson led to their designation as one of Henderson’s “founding families.”

Oral history interview with Mauricia Baca conducted by Claytee D. White on March 7, 2019 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. Mauricia Baca discusses her early life, her education, and her experiences living in New York City, New York before she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. She also relates her experiences on and after the 1 October mass shooting. Baca relates information on her agency, Get Outdoors Nevada. Baca shares how her agency worked with the City of Las Vegas in the construction and operation of the Healing Garden. Finally, she discusses the book she helped author regarding 1 October.

Oral history interview with Donna Robinson conducted by Barbara Tabach on December 20, 2019 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. Robinson begins by talking about her family and childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She talks about her family life and how she started working at the American Red Cross as a Disaster Program Specialist. Robinson describes her first disaster situation she worked through, later disaster situations, and the different training that is required in order to handle certain situations. Robinson then begins to talk about October 1, 2017, and how she tried to help as many people as possible that night. Then she talks about the long-term effects of the shooting and how it impacted the survivors and the community. She discusses the mental health aspect of the services Red Cross had and how it still continues to serve the community today.

Oral history interview with Hamed Ahmady conducted by Stefani Evans on March 22, 2023 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Interviewed by Stefani Evans. Culinary Union Local 226 organizer Hamed Ahmady recalls his childhood as the oldest of six children in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. As an child, he remembers hearing about the September 11, 2001 attack in New York while living in a Taliban-controlled city on a television connected to a concealed antenna that received signals from Uzbekistan. He recalls how, one month after he graduated high school, he became an translator for the U.S. Army, which he did for more than four years. He talks about securing his Special Immigrant Visa (SIV); landing in Los Angeles, California in 2013 and moving his family to the United States; and supporting his siblings and parents in Afghanistan. He also discusses relocating his family from California to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018, finding a mosque community, and working with Culinary Union Local 226.