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Ron Current interview, March 16, 2012: transcript

Date

2012-03-16

Description

Ron Current's heart was always in the right place, with respect to social activism and his dedication to empowering the black community in Las Vegas. Inspired by Black Panther Party founders, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, Ron started the Black Panther Party Las Vegas Chapter. He was also the director of public relations for the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; an organization created to work in tandem with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, to eliminate racial inequality. Ron describes the overall atmosphere of the Westside community in Las Vegas during the early days, as chaotic, drug infested, and riddled with daily gang related shootings. He also recalls the historic preservation attempts made by leading members of the Westside community, such as Sarann Knight Preddy. Ron recalls working at the University Medical Center while recruiting for the Black Panther Party Las Vegas Chapter. This interview demonstrates the power of love. As the founder and leader of the Black Panther Party Las Vegas Chapter, Ron was named one of the most influential blacks in Las Vegas by the Sentinel Voice. He recalls utilizing his hands-on leadership approach towards capacity building and the successful implementation of community mobilization strategies and methods. He was a champion for educational equity, equal access to employment opportunities, and economic equality in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Transcript of interview with Dorothy George by Claytee White, October 13, 2003

Date

2005-10-13

Description

After serving as a nurse in World War II in Hawaii, Okinawa and Japan, Dorothy returned home to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She experienced a particularly bad winter and she set out for California but stopped in Las Vegas to visit the family of her traveling companion, a girlfriend from her home town. The girlfriend returned to Wisconsin and George applied for a nursing license and got it within three days. She never left. Dorothy met her husband while working the night shift at Clark County Hospital. He would come in regularly to assist his patients in the births of their babies. Their occupations and their service in World War II drew them together in a marriage that has lasted over fifty years. From 1949 to this interview in 2003, Dorothy George has seen Las Vegas grow from a town that she loved to a metropolitan area that is no longer as friendly. She reminisces about the Heldorado parades, family picnics at Mount Charleston, watching the cloud formed by the atomic bomb tests, raising six successful children, leading a Girl Scout Troop, and working in organizations to improve the social and civic life of Las Vegas.

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Transcript of interview with Pat Merl by Claytee White, October 9 & 28, 2008

Date

2008-10-09
2008-10-28

Description

Patricia 'Pat' Merl plans for college did not materialized after graduation from a New Jersey high school in the late 1960s. Instead she took a receptionist job. The by the age of 19, it was her interest in dance classes that would lead her to audition to be a professional dancer for the Rockettes of Radio City Music Hall fame. Her days and weeks were filled with rigorous rehearsals and performances, but it was also an exciting time for a young and spirited girl. A side trip to Las Vegas in 1971 during her first ever vacation opened her to a new world of possibilities for a professional dancer. So without a job, she decides to remain in Las Vegas and explore the options. It became the beginning of a wide and varied career in the live entertainment industry. Pat's dancing resume includes working in many of the Las Vegas chorus lines of the 1970s, provides a flavor of what the work was like then and how it changed during the era. She includes the story of Frank Rosenthal and

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Transcript of interview with Dedee (DaVeen) Nave by Claytee D. White, June 8, 2015

Date

2015-06-08

Description

Dedee (DaVeen) Nave reveals a life filled with distinguished results in the cultural evolution of Las Vegas since her move to the valley in 1971. She was a young bride and soon a mother when she arrived with her can-do energies. She was a trained educator who was eagerly looked outside the classroom for a way to make a difference in the community when she took a position with the Camp Fire Girls Over the following decades, the impact of involving Dedee in many valued projects is evident. In this interview, she provides a glimpse into her various aptitudes and the many people she has worked with to great results. Dedee Nave was born DaVeen Maurer in 1948 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to David and Virginia Maurer and has a sister, Marilyn Maurer MacCollum. Their mother was a convert to Judaism who instilled them with a solid Judeo-Christian foundation. When Dedee became the bride of a mixed marriage, she raised her daughter Alisa in the Jewish faith. Alisa, who is married to Robb Worth, is a practicing attorney in Las Vegas. A graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, Dedee studied fine arts, considered being a theater major, modified her plans and became a skilled organizer of people and projects. This ability to envision, implement, and fundraise is seen in Dedee?s distinguished list of community programs, among them her work with: the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission; two terms on the Nevada State Arts Council; a past president of the Junior League of Las Vegas; former chairperson of the Junior League?s Endowment Fund Trustees; Lied Discovery Children?s Museum opening; and chairperson of Morelli House Public Program and many other initiatives.

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Transcript of interview with John Wanderer by Barbara Tabach, May 9, 2016 and May 18, 2016

Date

2016-05-09
2016-05-18

Description

In this interview, Wanderer talks about his first career in auto mechanics and car racing, which developed out of a childhood passion, and eventually took him to Charlotte, North Carolina working for Holman and Moody. He then discusses the decision to move back to Las Vegas with wife, Dorothy (Dottie), to pursue his legal career. Wanderer reflects at length about his mother?s trailblazing legal career, and working with her as legal partners. In addition, Wanderer discusses politics, including his observations from the 2016 Democratic State Convention and running for Democratic Party National Committeeman.

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Transcript of interview with Marta Sorkin by Claytee White, March 2, 2009

Date

2009-03-02

Description

In this interview, conducted for the 50th anniversary of UNLV, Marta Sorkin discusses her family and her experience moving to California, and then to Las Vegas. Sorkin worked at the James R. Dickinson Library at UNLV and later in Lied Library, helping to implement and update various databases, and create displays on current topics. She briefly discusses her involvement with Hillel and the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.

Marta Sorkin begins by reminiscing about her childhood in Far Rockaway Long Island, New York. She details the life her parents lived, which set an example for Marta and her two siblings. Through hard work, advanced education, and involvement in causes that were important to them, they created the template by which Marta lives her life. Marta describes her early work history, which included modeling, sales, library work, and working part time in her father's dry-cleaning plant. She and her daughter were living with her parents for a time in California, and they visited Las Vegas on weekends. It was during one of those visits that Marta met her second husband-to-be. They eventually married and decided to settle in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, Marta enrolled at UNLV, became involved with the Preservation Association of Clark County, and volunteered at the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas. In addition, she completed her BA and MA degrees at UNLV and started working at the university's library. She details her work there, including creating display cases, working in the reference section, doing research for students and faculty, and compiling interviews. Marta also describes the fundraisers she spearheaded to help raise money for the various societies she was involved with: non-events, pancake breakfasts, dinners, and dance and band performances. In her closing comments she mentions an interview she did for Ralph Roske's class and expresses her appreciation for the career she's had at UNLV.

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Transcript of interview with Bruce Isaacson by Barbara Tabach, March 24, 2017

Date

2017-03-24

Description

Bruce Isaacson was born in 1956 in Castro Valley, California to Betty Griffin and Bernard Isaacson, and spent his childhood in Oakland. He received his bachelor?s degree from Claremont McKenna College with majors in economics as well as drama, and continued studying for his Masters of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. After receiving his MBA, Isaacson started a career in finance, focusing on mergers and acquisitions. In 1995, he moved to Las Vegas to pursue a real estate career alongside his father. In June 2015, Isaacson became Clark Country?s first poet laureate to encourage poetry as an art form in Southern Nevada. Although Isaacson began writing poetry at a young age, he wanted to develop his craft further. So he attended Brooklyn College for a Masters of Fine Arts and studied with famed poet Allen Ginsberg. Isaacson is known in the San Francisco Bay Area as organizer and poet in the Cafe Babar readings in the 1980s. He is also a co-founder of Zeitgeist Press, where he remains publisher and co-editor. In this interview, Isaacson discusses his childhood and how he maneuvered his career path from finance into poetry. He talks about applying for and serving as the county?s first poet laureate, and describes the programing he?s started in this capacity. Isaacson also speaks about his earlier involvement with Bay Area poetry scene as well as the impact of his Jewish upbringing on his life and his art.

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Transcript of interview with Myrtle Hancock by Russell Oakes. February 26, 1980

Date

1980-02-26

Description

On February 26, 1980, collector Russell Oakes interviewed beautician, Myrtle Hancock (born January 1st, 1921 in Craig, Colorado) in her residence in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers the narrator’s occupational experience as a wardrobe dresser in the entertainment industry in Las Vegas. She also discusses family life, life on a ranch, Downtown Las Vegas, Helldorado, and Nevada’s hot weather. The interview concludes with a discussion on the development of Las Vegas and the projected future growth.

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Transcript of interview with Kerin Scianna Rodgers by Suzanne Becker and Claytee D. White, February 7, 2009 and August 11 & 16, 2011

Date

2011-08-16
2011-08-11

Description

Kerin Rodgers was born in 1936. She recounts her family history and stories of her youth growing up in Boston, MA, and shares how the family relocated to Seattle, WA in the mid-1940s. She talks about her enjoyment of theatrical arts and politics, and about being a resourceful divorced, single-mom and entrepreneur. In 1958 she opened a retail fashion store and modeling agency with a friend in Santa Monica, CA. Kerin had a knack for fashion and interior design that would assist her then and into the future. She also shares the story of arriving in Las Vegas as part of retail job with The Broadway stores in 1966—a two-week stint that seemed to have no ending. Her transition into Las Vegas included remarriage, a 1974 Keno win that enabled her to put down money on a home ( a house built by Paul Huffey) in the John S. Park neighborhood, and making close friends in the community. Her interview is sprinkled with tales of activities and personalities from the neighborhood's past and present. Kerin was involved with the Focus Youth House, speaks about First Fridays and art, as well as gives a perspective of police, criminal behaviors and changes in the neighborhood over the years. She hosted a local television show and enjoyed being a community activist.

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Interview with Joyce Anne (Reese) Parkhurst, November 27, 2004

Date

2004-11-27

Description

Narrator affiliation: Protester, Nevada Desert Experience

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