Charlie & Gail Lindsay: 105 Degrees and 39 Years

By CHARLENE PAUL

The Progress

Gail Lindsay and her husband Charlie moved to Moapa from Wyoming in July of 1983. It took two days to travel with their car and a U-Haul truck. When they left their home in Wyoming, it was about 70 degrees. When they arrived in Moapa, it was 105!
“When I got out of the car, a wall of heat hit me,” Gail said. “We had brought our winter clothes with us. We never used them again.”

Charlie had a job at Warm Springs Ranch then owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“We planned to buy a house, but until that time, we lived in the big house at the ranch,” Gail said. “There was a bedroom on the main floor along with a kitchen, living room, and small caretakers apartment in the back. In the summer, we lived in the pond just outside the house. The people we met were great and helped us a lot.”

Four months later, after moving to Warm Springs, the Church moved the cows and the farming operation to Hiko, Nevada.
“We weren’t asked to go to Hiko,” Gail explained. “And we had no job to return to in Wyoming, so we stayed and lived off our good looks. It was hard times.”

Charlie went to work in Las Vegas selling cars, and Gail sold Avon and cleaned houses.
“I met so many good people through my jobs and through church,” Gail said. “They were willing to pitch in and help wherever they could. I learned the art of listening and being a good friend as I watched them.”

Gail worked with Janice Carlson at One Stop across from the old Post Office.
“You could get anything there,” Gail said. “Bread, milk, gas, plumbing, and electrical supplies. It really was one stop, and it was the place where the community came together.”

At that time, the Moapa firehouse was housed in the old train depot along the tracks, just across from the old Post Office.
“We got involved with the fire department,” Gail said. “We had one truck and an old ambulance. I took the EMT class. Since Charlie was working Saturdays, I relied on the women in the area to take care of my kids. It was such a relief to know my kids were cared for by kind neighbors and friends.”

After the railroad depot closed, the building was cut in half and sold, requiring a new location for the fire department vehicles.
“We moved the trucks from the depot to Ron Lewis’ construction yard (then on Lawson Drive),” Gail said. “Summers were so hot the steering wheels scorched your hands. Then in the winter, we had to plug the trucks in and hope they would start.”

Taking emergency calls before the 911 system could be a bit tricky, Gail said.
“Back then, before the 911 system, Lee Bishop called us on a landline out of the Arrowhead garage in Glendale,” Gail explained. “There would be a long ring, and if you were home, you picked it up and listened to see what the call was. If you could go, you told them who you were, and you were available.”

“Nowadays the calls come over our cell phones,” Gail continued. “We know how, what, and where we are going. Such great advances!”

But Gail said that the best emergency response network in Moapa is still the neighborhood call line. “If we show up at a house for someone who is sick or has been involved in an accident, or something else, the calls go out,” Gail said. “Before we load them up and take them where they need to go, there were calls from family, friends, or neighbors checking to see what was wrong and asking how they could help. In a big city, that would be considered nosy. But not here. It is simply what people do to take care of others. May that call line never go silent.”

Arrowhead Services was the place to get tires, parts for vehicles, gas, and cold drinks, Gail remembered.

“Owner Ruth Shakespeare would catch you up on all that was going on,” Gail explained. “And there was also Clyde the camel there, always ready for an apple or a carrot. What a unique and marvelous place that was.”

Gail recalled that many times while she was there, people came in off the freeway needing a tire or gas. “Lee Bishop or Ruth’s boys, Tom and Wes, did what they needed to do to patch them up and get them down the road,” Gail said. “Lee also ran the tow truck.”

Where AM/PM sits today, the original Glendale Service Station boasted two gas pumps, a restaurant, and a small hotel. Vera Hester welcomed strangers and locals and loved supplying them with her famous White Chocolate Fudge.

“We would often go to the restaurant after a fire or ambulance call,” Gail said. “We sat and talked about what we did right and what went wrong. It was fun to see people come off the freeway and guess where they were from and where they were headed. Sometimes, after a car wreck, if the people weren’t hurt, we would bring them back to Glendale to get a room for the night.”

Gail said that she made friends everywhere over the years. She especially mentioned the people of the Moapa Band of Paiutes. “I love the people on the Reservation!” she said. “The way they care for each other and are willing to help and give to others is heartwarming. I have so many good friends there.”
Charlie eventually went to work at the Reid Gardner Generating Station and worked there for 32 years.

“Charlie worked with a lot of good men and women,” Gail said. “And he has a long list of friends.”
Clark County built the Community Center with a Fire Station, Library, and Justice Court sometime around 1998.

“My friend, Anna Perkins, was on the town board,” Gail said. “She called me and told me I should apply for the job of running the Community Center. I had my interview at the Moose Lodge, which was where the community had its meetings before the Community Center was built. I got the job, not really thinking about anything long-term. I ended up working there 29 years.”
Gail’s calm and generous demeanor shines as she talks about the people of Moapa.

“Changes are always difficult, but we help each other, and we take care of one another,” she said.
In that community spirit, she recalled the big flood of 2014 that washed out the I-15 just north of Glendale.
“Food was prepared, and places for the stranded students to stay were provided,” she remembered.

“There were two or three families and another couple who literally got washed off the freeway. We gathered them up and brought them to the Community Center, too.”

Gail recalled that there was no power at the center that night, but after a phone call, she had a generator and lights. A few more calls brought food, warm blankets, and clothes for the stranded people.

“I took a call from Las Vegas asking me how they could help,” Gail remembered. “I told them they couldn’t because we were surrounded by water, and no one could get in or out. But I told him we had power and food and clothes.”

Gail said that they were a little shocked and asked how that was possible. “I told them when you live in a small community, everyone takes care of themselves and each other,” she said. Gail and Charlie have no regrets about their time in Moapa.

“I have seen a lot of changes in the 39 years since I opened my car door to that wall of heat,” Gail explained. “I have had the opportunity to know, love, laugh, cry, and work with a lot of wonderful people. Who could ask for anything more?”