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An oral history interview conducted and edited by Robert D. McCracken; Esmeralda County History Project; Goldfield, 1993

Kay Dwyer was born August 30, 1934 to James and Eileen Crawford. Her father attained a job as an accountant with Basic Magnesium Incorporated in 1942. This meant that the family moved to Henderson, Nevada, which was a brand new community back in the early 1940's. The BMI plant, which manufactured magnesium for bombs and other war materials, is discussed throughout the interview. The interview begins with Kay reading a composition that she wrote entitled, "Our Summer of 1942 and More." In the reading she talks about the early years of her life when she first moved to southern Nevada. Kay gives remarkable details about the towns of Basic and Henderson (Basic became the town of Henderson) were like during this historic period. In 1952, she graduated from Basic High School and then moved to Los Angeles to attend Pepperdine University for two years. She moved back to the Las Vegas area and started a family with Stanly Hardy with whom she had three children. Sadly, at age 31 Stanly passed away from pancreatic cancer. After a break, Kay decided to go back to school and graduated from Nevada Southern University (now UNLV). Upon graduation, she immediately began teaching at Clark High School. In 1968, Kay married George Dwyer after being a widow for five years. Later, she taught at Las Vegas High School where she would go on to spend the next 25 years until 1995. This interview is an excellent resource for quality information pertaining to the early years of Southern Nevada. Kay Dwyer's extraordinary experiences provide us with a special look at the history of Las Vegas.

Lois Goodall, wife of the fourth president of UNLV, Dr. Pat Goodall, speaks with pride when recalling her early life, marriage, and involvement with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She grew up in Odessa, Missouri, with a father who was a farmer and a teacher mother, went to college to become a teacher, and her freshman year met a young sophomore gentleman by the name of Pat Goodall. They married and while Pat attended graduate school at the University of Missouri, she taught fifth grade. After Pat earned his Ph.D. they moved to Arizona State University, where he taught political science, and then to the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, and finally to UNLV. Lois, as the president's wife, enjoyed hosting various celebrities and faculty, was responsible for raising three children, and, miraculously, found time to earn her Master of Education degree in reading education and curriculum. She received her Master's hood from her husband, the president of the university, at her graduation. Expressing enthusiasm, Lois Goodall shows great delight in UNLV's growth and development. The university's Hotel Administration is second to none, and subsequent programs such as the addition of a law school imply maturity and expansion. She also admires the generosity and far sightedness of such individuals as Jerry Mack and Parry Thomas who not only funded the Thomas & Mack Center but purchased surrounding land so that the university could expand economically. Marjorie Barrick, another philanthropist, gave money for lectures benefiting faculty, students and community and also established the Barrick Scholar Award for students and Distinguished Scholar Award for faculty. As she describes the university's development, it is obvious that Lois Goodall remains one of UNLV's greatest supporters.

Dee Hicks was born in Damascus, Arkansas, in 1946. She was the tenth of 13 children born to Guy and Augusta Goff. Her father was a Baptist preacher and carpenter by trade, and her mother was a housewife. Dee's decision to become a nurse became a focal point in her life in the tenth grade. She joined the Future Nurses' Club and geared her high school classes toward nursing. Later Dee went to Oklahoma Baptist University and graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing. After marrying in 1969, Dee joined her husband in Las Vegas, who was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. At the age of 22, she joined the staff at Sunrise Hospital. There were only 500 beds at that time, and over the course of her 35 years at that hospital, she saw it grow to 701 beds. Dee's career included starting out as staff nurse, then becoming charge nurse, house supervisor, director of adult critical care, assistant director of nurses, and finally director of nurses. She shares how she honed her skills in various workshops and courses, observed various surgeries, and witnessed the evolution of nurses' uniforms from formal whites to colorful scrubs. In addition to her nursing duties, Dee also served on the State Board of Health and on many nursing boards. She did volunteer work with Street Teens, helped pass a bill that allows LPNs to do IV interventions with patients, and took training to be a parish nurse so she could volunteer to help sick people in her congregation. She stands ready today to help her community in whatever way she can.