Shawn Willis grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan and a graduate of University of Detroit Mercy. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2004. Since moving she converted to judaism. She held the position of Director of the Jewish National Fund of Las Vegas from 2015 to 2017. She also has been a member of UNLV Foundation’s President’s Associates Council.
Person
Shawn Willis grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan and a graduate of University of Detroit Mercy. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2004. Since moving she converted to judaism. She held the position of Director of the Jewish National Fund of Las Vegas from 2015 to 2017. She also has been a member of UNLV Foundation’s President’s Associates Council.
Person
Oral history interviews with Sandra Blake Toles conducted by Claytee D. White on November 13, 2018 and November 28, 2018 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In the first interview, Toles discusses her early life in Enid, Oklahoma and growing up in a family of ten children. She talks about her father being an ordained bishop in the Pentecostal Church, the significance of religion in her family, and the religious community she grew up in. Toles remembers her husband’s service in the United States Air Force, being stationed at Nellis Air force Base in 1966, and purchasing their first home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Later, Toles describes the Westside community during the 1970s, and her involvement with the Las Vegas City government. In the final interview, Toles discusses local initiative programs that work towards alleviating crime, assist mothers on welfare, housing assistance, and develop employment training and opportunities for community members.
Archival Collection
In this roundtable discussion, members of Temple Beth Sholom discuss the history of the long-established congregation. Interviewees are Sandy Mallin, Oscar Goodman, Jared Shafer, Joel Goot, Arne Rosencrantz, Jerry Blut, Jackie Boiman, Gene Greenberg, and Flora Mason, with Shelley Berkley joining in later in the interview. Most of the interviewees have been involved in the leadership of the congregation. They discuss relationships with various rabbis over the years, and successful fundraising efforts to build the original synagogue. Other early leaders in the congregation were Edythe Katz-Yarchever, the Goot family, Stuart Mason, Herb Kaufman and Leo Wilner. Until the 1980s, Temple Beth Sholom was the only synagogue in Las Vegas, but after a dispute over the burial of a non-Jew, a new synagogue formed (Shareii Tefilla), and at nearly the same time, Temple Beth Sholom began investigating a move from their site on Oakey Boulevard. Most have nostalgia for the former location, but discuss the changes in the neighborhood that necessitated the move to Summerlin. Then they discuss the other initiatives that were borne out of Temple Beth Sholom, such as bond drives for Israel, B'nai B'rith, and the Kolod Center. They share other memories, then discuss the leadership and Sandy Mallin becoming the first female president of the temple. They credit Mallin with keeping the temple going through lean years, and helping to recruit Rabbi Felipe Goodman. The group goes on to mention other influential members of the Jewish community including Jack Entratter and Lloyd Katz, who helped integrate Las Vegas.
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