VINTAGE VEGAS

Jack E. Matthews & 50 years of growth

In 1966, Las Vegas was full of boarded-up houses belonging to the city's two savings and loan associations. In good times, the S&Ls had generously granted loans to builders who, when a slump came, defaulted and moved on.

Being in the finance business, not the home business, and not wanting to own all these houses, Great Western Savings invited my then-husband Jack E. Matthews to come over from California to help out.

Jack wanted to check out the situation before he accepted GWS' offer, so we came to town in the guise of potential buyers. We contacted a Great Western salesman who gave us a sales talk and showed us several houses. Viewing the interior of these houses was difficult, in some cases impossible. Entry depended on how successful the salesman was in applying his crowbar to the boarded-up windows.

My husband decided to take the job, and we relocated in 1966-67. Great salesman that he was, Jack sold himself out of a job by liquidating GWS' inventory of houses. Deciding that his future was in Las Vegas, Jack went into real estate for himself -- first in partnership with Bill Hardy and then forming Jack Matthews & Co. He went on to expand his business into Northern Nevada, so that at one time he had Nevada's largest real estate staff.

Jack's success was validated by his service as president of the local Association of Realtors, as well as regional and national offices for the National Association of Realtors. A great sportsman, he sponsored many amateur teams, earning many trophies. Jack also was founding chairman of the board of Continental Bank, which later merged into Bank of the West.

All the years in Las Vegas were not golden, and we certainly didn't anticipate the extent of the city's mushrooming growth. I can remember Jack's stationing our daughter-in-law out in the boonies around Spring Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard so that she could check out and mark down the traffic "out there." This was to help a prospective builder decide whether or not he could attract enough buyers that far out to justify building a small tract of homes. I don't know what the builder decided, but I sure hope he went for it.

After a stint with Merrill Lynch, Jack decided to again become his own boss. The campaign to announce his return to business is still remembered as one of Las Vegas' all-time advertising bests: "Jack's back -- and that's no bull!"

We were divorced in 1993, and Jack died on Flag Day in 2002. For so many years, he truly reveled in being a part of Las Vegas and its exciting real estate community. I often think how he would have loved to be here for the mighty boom that we are experiencing now.

WILLA MATTHEWS, ED.D. LAS VEGAS