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Shortly before the University of Georgia granted Betsy Fretwell Master's degree in public administration in 1991, she applied for a one-year internship with Clark County, Nevada. The County hired her, but Fretwell did not complete her internship. Instead, the County promoted her, hired her full-time, and soon had her lobbying for the County's interests in Carson City. Her insistence on learning all sides of a question and communicating that knowledge to the decision makers was one of the skills that made her so valuable to Clark County administrators. In this interview, Fretwell discusses her South Carolina childhood, her affinity for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and the path she took to occupy the office of city manager for the City of Las Vegas. She talks about her years at Clark County and a term at the City of Henderson, but she mostly focuses on her sixteen years at the City of Las Vegas, first as assistant city manager under Virginia Valentine and later as city manage

Jane Greenspun Gale-actor, activist, writer, magazine publisher, philanthropist, and farmer- has filled her life with accomplishments such as the Animal Foundation and Springs Preserve. It has also been a life filled with adventure - from “looking for John Lennon” during her time living and studying acting in London to learning to raise chickens on the acres of the Gilcrease Farm she owns with husband and photographer Jeff Gale. Everyone calls her Janie. Born Jane in 1949, she is the third of four children born to community leaders Barbara and Hank Greenspun. In this oral history, Janie captures the fun of growing up in Las Vegas under the watching eye of Hank. As a teen she and her friends cruised Fremont Street. Several years later she wanted to be arrested protesting the Atomic Test Site, when Hank diverted her into reporting about the event instead. Her Jewish foundation was at Temple Beth Sholom, where her parents were among the founding members. As the Jewish population grew, the tastes in synagogues grew to reflect the change. When Janie’s children preferred the Reform approach at Congregation Ner Tamid, a new family tradition began. She is proud of her background and shares loving stories of time spent with her grandparents as a child and pride in the heroic and dramatic story behind the naming of Hank Greenspun Plaza in Israel. Even her love story with Jeff is a tale made for movies. It unfolds in this engaging oral history interview along with anecdotes that are plucked from her personal history and preserve a reflection of growing up in Las Vegas, one of the Greenspun family of local fame.

On a pleasant spring evening at sundown in April 2017, a Pop-Up Shabbat draws a crowd of Jews to the Jackie Gaughan Parkway at the El Cortez Hotel & Casino. Proudly, and quietly, watching from the sideline is Kenny Epstein, owner of the El Cortez. He seeks no recognition, but is enjoying the gathering for Sabbath services and the music that will fill the air. Kenny Epstein is also a classic enthusiast of Las Vegas history. The nostalgia is evident as one walks through the casino and reinforced by the stories of a man who has experienced the city’s growth since moving here in 1959 at the age of 18. The timeline of Kenny’s teen years begins with his bar mitzvah in Chicago and a story of prizefighter Rocky Marciano giving a brief toast. When he was 15, his parents, Ike and Adele Epstein, took the family to visit Las Vegas. About three years later, his father became an executive at the Stardust. Kenny’s own imprint on Las Vegas history was just beginning. In this brief interview, he mentions an illustrious list of mentors and recalls many historic moments from the history of the Las Vegas Strip. All of which led to his ownership of The El Cortez—advertised as the longest continuously operating hotel/casino.

Folks who graduated Boulder City High School in 1953 and who began kindergarten there might remember being in kindergarten class with Clark D. "Danny" Lee. They would be excused for not remembering the towheaded Lee; after all, he was in Boulder City only for the first half of the year. They also would be excused for not remembering Lee because he never stayed in school once he arrived. Danny was the child whose mother faithfully brought him to class every day. And every day, as soon as his mother dropped him off, he took off and beat his mother home. Danny Lee was born in his grandparents’ house in North Las Vegas, grew up on 10 Bonneville Street, and (except for his first semester of kindergarten in Boulder City) attended Fifth Street Elementary School and Las Vegas High School, where he graduated in 1953 with Rex Bell. In 1960 he married fellow Las Vegas High grad and former Rhythmette, Dorothy Damron; they have raised four children. Here, Lee talks about the difficulties his father had finding work and supporting a family during the Great Depression-of living with relatives and moving from place to place in the small travel trailer as his father found work. He describes a hardscrabble Las Vegas, where he and other kids in in multiethnic groups found temporary work helping drovers in the stockyards or filling blocks of ice in the icehouse. He recalls working for Superior Tire during high school and for the Union Pacific Railroad in a variety of jobs after graduation and the U.S. Army-including a stint as a Union Pacific tour director. v Lee’s early kindergarten career seems an unlikely academic indicator for a man who would spend most of his adult life volunteering for and lobbying on behalf of Clark County public libraries and who the American Library Association would select as the 1990 Library Trustee of the Year. Ironically, Lee was asked to serve on the Clark County Library District board of directors to get rid of a troublesome library director. Instead, he became one of the director’s staunchest advocates. It is appropriate that Danny and his wife, Dorothy, are pictured here surrounded by library books. The native Las Vegan built a lifetime career as a State Farm Insurance salesman, but in this interview he focuses on his public library advocacy, his time as trustee for the Clark County Library District; the formation of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District; the ambitious building program funded by $80 million in voter-approved statewide bonds; and the political wrangling in Carson City necessary to achieve these ends. Lee’s oral history complements that of his wife, Dorothy Lee, and of Charles Hunsberger, who was the “troublesome” library director at the time Lee was trustee. Lee made his living as an insurance salesman. Lee’s ability to sell a product-whether it be insurance or an $80 million bond issue-is the attribute that made Danny Lee so valuable as a trustee to the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and consequently, to all Clark County residents who value public library services. However, his passion, and dedication, and unbowed determination earned him the Library Trustee of the Year award. As Lee closes the interview, he locks eyes with Dorothy and muses, "Let me tell you what I'm most proud of in all . . . I've been married to this lady for fifty six years now. . . . I've lived a very blessed life. Being born in my grandmother's house and having lived in little travel trailers, it's just good. It's worked. We're living like we've always wanted to live right now."

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.

On March 30, 1976, collector Margaret Stambro interviewed schoolteacher and registered medical stenographer, Judith L. Hamblin (born June 11, 1941 in Las Vegas, Nevada) in her home in Henderson, Nevada. This interview covers the history of Henderson, local schools and teachers, and Helldorado. Also during this interview, Mrs. Hamblin discusses her fondness for Lake Mead, the Basic Magnesium Plant, Nellis Air Force Base, and the early aboveground atomic blasts.