Pioneer leader of the Las Vegas gay community.

GENEALOGY BIOGRAPHY

Robert Lee Forbuss was born 31 Jan 1948 in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA; and died 12 Aug 2012 in Las Vegas. His father was Elmer Lloyd Forbuss who was born 10 Sep 1915 in Malden, Dunklin County, Missouri, USA; and died 19 Jan 2004 in Grants Pass, Josephine County, Missouri, USA. Robert Lee Forbuss’ mother was Marjorie Adaline Keas born 28 Oct 1917 in Wisdom, Beaverhead County, Montana, USA; and died 10 Feb 1994 in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

BIOGRAPHY FOR THE LGBTQ+ CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA

Robert Lee Forbuss was a gay man who made it possible for the Center to move into its large, renovated building on Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas. It is known as the Forbuss Building because of his work. Bob helped the Center select the building, plan its renovation, and raise money for the work. The renovation ground breaking was in 2012, five days before Bob died of ALS at age 64, after a two year illness. Bob was active in AIDS and LGBTQ+ causes in his career as a business executive, government official, and philanthropist. He also was active in youth and cultural charities, including visiting and helping teach students at the newly opened Robert Forbuss Elementary School near the Rhodes Ranch neighborhood.

Bob was born in Las Vegas to parents who worked in the casino and hospitality industry. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he was raised by his mother and her mother in a small house in the Huntridge neighborhood, within less than a mile of where the Center is located now. During this time, his mother’s family opened a dry cleaning business within walking distance of their home; and Bob did attend the local Catholic schools, including Bishop Gorman High School. He worked in casinos and the hospitality business during the summers.

Bob obtained a political science degree, at age 22, from California State College, Long Beach, but came back to Las Vegas to work as an EMT technician for an ambulance company, and teach history, government and debate at Bishop Gorman High School. He was promoted at the ambulance company and became an executive. He ran for and was elected to the Clark County School Board, and served there for 8 years. He was named Chairman of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and was a founding board member of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Bob was not publicly gay until relatively late in life. He did publicly support local Las Vegas AIDS organizations, including Aid For AIDS and Golden Rainbow. His last political campaign was for a position as a Regent for the University of Nevada. Bob lost that election to a candidate who campaigned based on opposition to gay marriage. Newspapers reported that Bob’s “only regret in the campaign is that [his opponent’s] ads were negative toward the end. ‘He's young. He'll learn,’ Forbuss said.” Two months after Bob’s death, his life was celebrated at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, including speeches by Dr. Jerry Cade, US Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Shelly Berkley, former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, former US Senator Richard Bryan; and a performance by a student choir from Forbuss Elementary School

Timeline

Robert Lee Forbuss
Born 31 Jan 1948 Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA
Died 12 Aug 2012 Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA (age 64)

LIFE EVENT TIMELINE

• 1948 Las Vegas born, mother Marjorie was cocktail waitress at Golden Nugget, El Rancho Vegas, and the Green Shack on Fremont St. near Charleston Blvd.
• Father Lloyd was bartender at Green Shack, former Army Master Sargent who won the second highest medal (distinguished service cross) in WW2 Battle of the Bulge for courageous actions and extraordinary heroism
• 1950 raised at Marjorie’s home near Franklin Ave. and Maryland Pkwy, mostly by his grandmother Frances Keas, a cook at the Green Shack, after Marjorie and Lloyd divorced
• 1954 mother Marjorie, with her brother in law, Omer Hamel, opened dry cleaning store near Eastern Ave. and Charleston Blvd.
• Graduated from Bishop Gorman (Catholic) High School in Las Vegas, after attending St. Anne Elementary School
• Summer jobs at Caesars Palace, Sahara Hotel, and Thunderbird Casino; as busboy, moving furniture, chauffeuring guests, floor man, advertising
• 1970 BA degree in Political Science at California State College Long Beach, plus two years post-grad studies
• 1972 teaching history, government, and debate at Bishop Gorman High School, until 1979
• 1973 worked for Mercy ambulance (trucks and helicopters) as EMT technician, manager, and executive until 2003
• 1978 elected Clark County (Nevada) School Board Trustee, served two terms until 1986
• 1981-1982 was first responder with Mercy ambulances for famous MGM Grand fire and Las Vegas Hilton fire
• 1993 advisory board of Golden Rainbow of Nevada Inc., a charity assisting persons living with HIV/AIDS
• 1994 mother Marjorie died, donations in her honor to Aid for AIDS, a Las Vegas charity
• 1998 became Chairman of Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
• 1998 was named Lifetime Achiever at the Gay and Lesbian Center of Southern Nevada's fifth annual Honorarium
• Active in Las Vegas leadership of Rotary Club International, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts (on 2012 founding board of directors)
• 2002 hosted fundraiser in his home for local candidate, featured guest was US Rep. Patrick Kennedy
• 2002 ran for U. of Nevada Regent post, but lost based on opponent’s support of anti-gay marriage proposition
• 2005 Robert Forbuss Elementary School in Las Vegas named
• 2005-2010 board of Golden Rainbow of Nevada Inc., a charity providing assistance to persons living with HIV/AIDS
• 2008-2009 national board of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
• 2010 diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), same disease that killed physicist Stephen Hawking in 2018
• 2011 magazine articles with attributions:
o “Bob took me under his wing over ten years ago…Bob’s early participation as an HRC [Human Rights Campaign] Federal Club member was key to HRC’s success in Las Vegas,” said Josh Miller (who was named to HRC’s national Board of Directors in 2010)(HRC is America’s largest organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality);
o “Every time we needed money for anything that had to do with repealing the sodomy law, Bob wrote a check. He probably personally financed over half the money we spent repealing the law [in 1993],” said Dr. Jerry Cade (former Executive Director of Aid for AIDS of Nevada); and
o Forbuss had mentored many of the LGBT community’s emerging leaders said Tod Story (currently Executive Director, ACLU of Nevada).
• 2012 ground breaking at LGBT center near Clark Ave. and Maryland Pkwy, named for Robert Forbuss, five days before his death
• 2012 Robert Forbuss died at age 64, gravestone tribute to the “Falcons” of his namesake elementary school
• 2012 Celebration of Life held at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, including Dr. Jerry Cade, US Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Shelly Berkley, former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, former US Senator Richard Bryan; and a performance by a student choir from Forbuss Elementary School
• 2019 attributions:
o “The very first person I came out to was Bob Forbuss, the LGBT center’s namesake. I am proud to have known such an incredible man and strive to be the example he once was for me,” said Gavin Goorjian, Governing Board of Directors member, LGBTQ+ Center of Southern Nevada; and
o “Bob Forbuss was my best friend,” said Jan Jones, former Mayor of Las Vegas, who proposed that the LGBTQ+ Center building be named for Forbuss, and who spearheaded the capital campaign to raise the first $1 million to fund the building.

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper 29 Jun 1978, 29 Oct 1978, 10 Dec 1980, 12 Mar 1981, 8 Dec 1998, 20 Oct 2002, 14 Aug 2012, 15 Aug 2012, 22 Oct 2012, 1 Nov 2012, 24 Feb 2013, 14 Apr 2013. Las Vegas Sun newspaper 11 Nov 2002, 8 Aug 2012, 14 Aug 2012. FindAGrave 96697447, 102232272. US IRS Form 990 charity reports. ”An Interview with Robert Forbuss”, An Oral History Conducted by Suzanne Becker, Voices of the Historic John S. Park Neighborhood, Oral History Research Center at UNLV, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, February 12, 2009. Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada Records (donations by Antioco Carillo and Dennis McBride), Collection No. MS-00537, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas. Don Arden Papers, Collection No. MS-00425, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas. Forbuss (Robert L.) papers (donations by Dennis McBride), Collection No. MS-00888, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas. Dennis McBride Collection on LGBTQ Las Vegas, Nevada (donations by Dennis McBride), Collection No. MS-00802, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas. Davis, Richard, “Bob Forbuss - Tale of Two Bobs,” QVegas Magazine, pp. 48-54 (July 2011). Davis, Richard, “The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada’s 17th Annual Honorarium Celebrate Community,” QVegas Magazine, pp. 40-45 (October 2011). Web site https://thecenterlv.org/board/member/5d33eff77eb22d330f726a4e accessed Dec. 23, 2019. Collier, Lynn, et al., “Our Beloved Ally, Arlene,” Las Vegas Spectrum, pp. 16-24, 23 (April 2019).

DETAILS: OBITUARY OF ROBERT FORBUSS (LVR-J). “Robert Forbuss: A true Las Vegan. The depth of Robert Forbuss’s commitment to Southern Nevada was rivaled only by the length of his resume. Mr. Forbuss died at his home Sunday after a two-year fight with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Only 64 years old, he accomplished more than most men could hope to achieve in three lifetimes. After going to college in California, the native Nevadan returned to Las Vegas to teach at his alma mater, Bishop Gorman High School. He worked as a paramedic during summer breaks, and gradually moved into management and ownership of Mercy Medical Services. He founded and led two emergency medical services associations and became a national leader in the industry before selling his ambulance company and helping run American Medical Response. Meanwhile, he served on the Clark County School Board from 1979 to 1986; founded what is now Colonial Bank; became chairman of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce; and served on the boards of the Clark County Public Education Foundation, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. He was involved in transportation planning and philanthropy, in education and business consulting. A Las Vegas elementary school and the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada bear his name. His hard work and generosity were driven by his desire to make the Las Vegas Valley a better place to live. A celebration of Mr. Forbuss’s life will be held at The Smith Center sometime in October. The center is the perfect location because, as in so many of Mr. Forbuss’s projects, he helped turn dreams into reality. Rest in peace, Bob Forbuss.” Las Vegas Review-Journal Newspaper, 15 Aug 2012, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada USA.

DETAILS: OBITUARY OF ROBERT FORBUSS (LV SUN). “Bob Forbuss. During a career that included stints as a high school teacher, emergency medical technician, owner of an ambulance company and eventually a role as one of Las Vegas’ leading philanthropist and community leaders, Robert “Bob” Forbuss was motivated by a singular goal: making his beloved hometown a better place to live. “He loved Las Vegas,” said Dr. Jerry Cade, a close friend of Forbuss’. “He wanted to make it different. He wanted Las Vegas to be this cool, wonderful, progressive city.” Forbuss, whose community involvement included time on the Clark County School Board and leadership roles at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Public Education Foundation, died Sunday after a battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 64. A Las Vegas native, Forbuss took his first job after graduating from California’s Long Beach State University teaching at Bishop Gorman High School. Summers spent as an EMT led Forbuss away from teaching and into leadership roles at Mercy Medical Services, which he later came to own and then expand throughout the southwest. But education always held a special role in his heart, said Cade, who is the director of HIV services at University Medical Center. “He was passionate about education,” Cade said. “He believed, like most of us, that education is (the key) to our future.” Forbuss’ passion also extended to fighting for equal rights for Las Vegas’ gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, of which he was a member, and he played a critical role in the effort to repeal Nevada’s sodomy law in the 1990s. A private person who tended to work behind the scenes and avoid the spotlight in both his business and personal life, it took years before Forbuss went public with his sexuality, said Cade. “I bugged him about being open in public. He said he would the day after he was finished with the School Board,” Cade said. “He kept his word. The day after he got off we went to the bar.” A steady presence in the community for decades, Forbuss’ name will carry on at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada’s new building, which is named in his honor, and at Robert L. Forbuss Elementary School in the southwest valley. “He lived at the school. He loved being there,” Cade said. “He read to the kids; he went to countless assemblies.” Forbuss was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that ultimately ends in death, in 2010. But Forbuss managed to stay positive and continue working to better the community, even in the face of a bleak diagnosis, said Sig Rogich, a close friend of Forbuss who served with him on the Public Education Foundation’s board of directors. “He handled (the illness) with an amazing amount of dignity and grace,” Rogich said. “Even when I knew he was in pain, he never really complained about it. He was still laughing and talking.” Rogich said Forbuss gave both his money and, more importantly, his time to making Las Vegas a better place. “He was an extraordinary part of our community,” Rogich said. “He had a deep compassion for seeing that kids got a good education … What he did in the gay and lesbian community was to bring compassion to the issue early on.”” Conor, Shine, Las Vegas Sun Newspaper, 14 Aug 2012, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

DETAILS: JAN JONES SPEECH FOR APRIL 2013 FORBUSS BUILDING OPENING. “I am so proud to be here this evening to celebrate the opening of The Robert L. Forbuss building at the Center…the community has worked tirelessly for a long time to make this center a reality…a place that will be a safe haven for youth seeking to understand their sexuality, a place that will provide information, support, confidentiality…a place that is embracing, nurturing and supportive…When I reflect upon the last 20 years, I see how far Las Vegas as a community has come …When I was first elected mayor, there was no LGBT community…they were invisible, as they were mostly in hiding…I am proud of the small role I played in changing that reality…Astonishingly, I was the first elected official to attend Gay Pride Day, accept an invitation to present to LAMBDA, to act as the first politician chairperson of the Aids Walk and to come out against efforts to ban sodomy in the state of Nevada with a press conference on the steps of City Hall … As we all know, one voice can incent the voice of many in a chorus…so today we have an LGBT community that is beginning to thrive, to use their voice, to make a difference… We have made huge progress. Recently, the State of Nevada passed legislation supporting Domestic Partner Benefits; President Obama’s historic endorsement of marriage equality; and his repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”….The Department of Justice opinion clarifying that the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act related to stalking and abuse apply equally to same-sex partners, and the Department of Labor’s issuance clarifying that an employee can take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a same-sex partner’s child, even where the partner does not have a legal or biological relationship to that child. There have been many more victories and advancements towards equal rights for the LGBT Community….but we must remain, ever vigilant, ever on guard,…. we must remain aware that even with our progress we have a very long way to go ….Today 51% of our LGBT community are not open to their colleagues, 29 states still have laws allowing legal firing of lesbian, gay or bi-sexual persons, and in 34 states it is legal to fire someone solely for being transgender…over 40% of the transgender population are unemployed and their suicide rate is one of the highest in the nation…the highest percentage of homeless youth are LGBT …and sadly, hate crimes, largely continue to be against persons in the LGBT community…..I have a few quotes I would like to share:
_____“Don’t misunderstand, I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issues of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders”….Michele Bachmann
_____“If the Supreme Court says that you have a right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything…Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue that it does”….Rick Santorum
_____“Of course it is our moral heritage that one should not hate any human being or class of human beings. But I had thought that one could consider certain conduct reprehensible,…. murder for example,…. or polygamy, or cruelty to animals…and could exhibit even animus toward such conduct. Surely that is the only sort of animus at issue here…moral disapproval of homosexual conduct”….Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on state’s rights to criminalize sodomy laws
_____And my personal favorite “I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman”….Arnold Schwarzenegger
_____This is the ignorance that still pervades our country—found in the voices of our elected officials and alleged great minds of our courts. It is the ignorance that drives the National Defense of Marriage organization and it is the still driven, in my opinion, by hate. Now some manifestations of hate are obvious. The torture and murder of Matthew Shepard for being gay is obviously hate. The shooting of two worshippers at a Hollywood synagogue is obviously hate. But not all hate is that obvious. And the horrible episodes are sometimes enabled because they are preceded by less obvious forms of hate. When the Nazi’s took power in the early 1930’s, they didn’t immediately begin murdering Jews. Instead, they created an environment that eventually made the murder of Jews possible. They started by blaming Jews for poverty, hyperinflation, and unemployment, creating ill will that led to more overt forms of persecution, and ultimately murder. Now listen to this comment that was recently posted on the Las Vegas Review Journal website about President Obama:
_____Quote: “The only reason we hired him, was to prove we weren’t racist. And, what did it get us? A slap in the face, and even more outstretched hands looking for the Gravy Train.”
_____No, the author of this post didn’t advocate murder, and he didn’t use offensive words. And for all we know, he may even be here in this room, genuinely believing he stands up against hate. He may even be a she. But hate doesn’t only come from bigots, anti-Semites, and misogynists. Hate doesn’t always manifest itself in hate crimes. And hate doesn’t always produce genocide. On the other hand, homophobia, bigotry, anti-Semitism, genocide, and hate crimes do always start with hate. Sometimes they start with hate that is barely recognizable as such – with something we could call little hates. Little hates. In some respects, the little hates are especially insidious – not only because they are easy to slough off, but because they force their targets to change their own behavior and who they are. I have an employee who for many years was afraid to publicly acknowledge who she loves because she thought it might jeopardize her career. Nobody called her a name or threatened her job, but she lived in fear nonetheless. There are dozens of other examples. The young Jewish child who is made to feel uncomfortable if he doesn’t want to sing Christmas carols. The single men and women who don’t run for office because they’re afraid of possible whisper campaigns implying they might be gay. Little hates have big impacts.
_____Let’s be clear about something: the way to combat hate is not to limit speech. In fact, free speech is one of the most powerful weapons we have against hate. Free speech allows us to call out hate, counter hate, and hold those who hate accountable. Using free speech to combat hate is our obligation. And sometimes, that obligation can be harder than we might like. It’s fairly easy to stand up against hate when it’s in the form of a synagogue shooting or the murder of a man whose only defense was being gay. But what about standing up against hate when one of your friends jokes that he want to go to a soul food restaurant, but is afraid he might get shot? What about standing up against hate when the Aunt you love – the one who you confided in as a child – tells you that she doesn’t rent to Mexicans because they’re dishonest? Most of us will never be called on to stop a hate crime. We won’t be able to demonstrate our courage by hiding a Jew escaping persecution. But that doesn’t mean we have no opportunities to fight hate. We can fight hate every day, by refusing to let the little hates to unnoticed and unanswered. That’s the commitment every one of us should make.
_____We’re here tonight because every one of us believes in standing up against hate. We’re here to support an organization whose sole reason for existence is to combat hate…and that’s exactly what they’ve done and continue to do with the Forbuss Center. And we are here tonight to celebrate the opening of the Center and honor a man who will be remembered for his fight against hate, his fight against discrimination, his fight for inclusion. Bob hid the beginning of his life (most eligible bachelor), but he was a voice and advocate for the last 25 years. He believed Las Vegas could be a model city. He built a business, Mercy [Medical Services, aka Mercy Ambulance], that saved lives, and he now names a Center that will save lives. This is his hope, his vision. This is his legacy.”
_____[Jan Laverty Jones was the Mayor of the City of Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA from 1991 to 1999. Her name later became Jan Jones Blackhurst.]

FORBUSS BUILDING OPENING 2013 INTERVIEW. Interview of Bob Coffin (Councilman, Ward 3, City of Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada) by David Riggleman (Communications Director, City of Las Vegas), dated April 18, 2013. DR: COUNCILMAN, ALSO ANOTHER OLD BUILDING WITH NEW LIFE. WE HAVE A NEW LGBT CENTER IN DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS. THIS IS AN OLD HARDWARE AND PAINT STORE, ACTUALLY YOU WERE TELLING ME THAT THIS WAS A VACANT FIELD BACK WHEN YOU WERE A KID. BC: It’s true, when I was a student at John S. Park [elementary school – 931 Franklin Ave., Las Vegas], I went over to St. Joseph’s School [Catholic elementary school – 1300 Bridger Ave., Las Vegas] on North St. Pete, just south on Maryland Parkway, actually. I played there, and we would ride our bicycles to and from school right over all these vacant lots, which then became apartment buildings and a commercial portion, right between what now is between 13th Street and Maryland Parkway, which used to be Maryland [Parkway] in both directions. So I have a kick whenever anything happens there, I can talk about the old days on my bicycle. But the main thing is, the new Center is a wonderful thing for the Gay and Lesbian community. They have, as you know, been a minority group for generations, and it has been very difficult for people who are born this way, and can’t quite understand it, and eventually they come to embrace it, but it’s very difficult even half the people who are Gay do not let it be known that they are. DR; YOU TOLD ME THE STORY ABOUT YOUR BROTHER. BC: That’s right. My brother was Gay, and I didn’t know it, he died young, I didn’t know it until the day after he died that he was Gay, and that has struck me. It has been one of my guiding stars for the last 30 years, understanding more about this community, because you never know where you are on this thing, and they don’t know. When they’re young, that’s the time when they become very confused, and there are people who have been banned from religions, banned from communities, bullied, and so on. I think public opinion is shifting on this, and the way to do it is prominent people in Las Vegas got together, Gay and straight, and they said we need to have a better place for them to meet because they were in a pretty run-down location in Commercial Center. This group has been embraced by the neighborhood, you have the great school right nearby. And they have been out and gone to the apartments nearby and said “Kids, come over and play in our basketball court and walk around and look at the games. They’re not going to be converted to something they are not. I think it’s important. DR: ISN’T THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BUILDING UNBELIEVEABLE? IT IS AN OLD PAINT [STORE] FOR A LONG TIME, AND THEN IT WAS VACANT FOR A LONG TIME. BC: There was a carpet store there. DR: A CARPET STORE, THAT’S RIGHT. IT IS RIGHT AT THE “Y” WHERE MARYLAND PARKWAY SPLITS OFF AND IT BECOMES ONE WAY ON 13TH, AND ONE WAY GOING SOUTH ON MARYLAND PARKWAY, RIGHT AT THAT SPLIT. BC: It’s named for Bob Forbuss, a prominent citizen here who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS as it’s medically known, just last year. That’s a tragic loss to our community. Bob gave of his heart and his pocketbook to causes all over this valley, and so I think it is really appropriate that they named it after Bob, because I knew Bob since he was in high school, we go way back. DR: CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, THE MAYOR, AND DINA TITUS WERE OUT THERE, HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE TURNED OUT FOR THAT [VIDEO SHOWS SLIDE OF “THE CENTER GRAND OPENING – APRIL 6”]. BC: Christy Barnett, of our “always in motion” neighborhood services put together a rainbow ribbon of many colors, and that’s what we cut to open it up, and so it’s beautiful, you will see how nice that place is. Everybody’s welcome to go down there, really. It’s a good place to go. You don’t have to be, shed your inhibitions, and meet people who are different from you, if you’re a straight person. The important thing that you learn, is that people of this persuasion are not going to try to change you, they’re not going to try to change anybody. They’re trying to rediscover what they are supposed to be, and they are trying to help the young people who are struggling with this kind of identity crisis. The suicide rate is very high, and we want to intercept that. So the whole community turned out for a gala event. DR: IT WAS A SATURDAY MORNING, WITH BEAUTIFUL WEATHER. BC: We are proud to have them, it’s a real anchor on the East side of downtown, We want to say Maryland Parkway might be one of our boundaries, and this becomes an anchor of prosperous development, and I know we are going to see a lot more happening. DR: CONGRATULATIONS THERE. [James Robert Coffin was born Oct. 7, 1942, and was a member of the Las Vegas City Council representing Ward 3 from 2011 to 2019. Joseph Michael Coffin (19 Mar 1948 – 9 Sep 1982) was his brother.]

DETAILS: OBITUARY OF MARJORIE FORBUSS. “Longtime Las Vegas entrepreneur Marjorie Forbuss dies at age 76. Las Vegas businesswoman Marjorie Forbuss died Thursday at her home at the age of 76. Forbuss was born Oct. 28, 1917, in Wisdom, Mont., a farming community where her father was the sheriff. At the age of 23, Forbuss decided to leave Montana with a girlfriend and travel to Las Vegas. “She didn’t want to be a farmer. She always told me that wasn’t what she wanted to do. She was very entrepreneurial; she thought she could do better out West,” said her son, Robert Forbuss, president and chief executive officer of Mercy Ambulance. Forbuss arrived in Las Vegas, where she would spend the rest of her life, in the 1940s and began her career at the Golden Nugget Hotel as a waitress. A few years later she was hired as a manager for The Green Shack restaurant. She saved her money and by the 1950s was prepared to open her own business, but she encountered problems getting loans from banks. “I remember my mother making the complaint that women couldn’t borrow money from banks,” said Robert Forbuss. Undeterred, Forbuss borrowed from friends and in 1953 opened Fashion Cleaners. Forbuss sold the business in 1971 and retired a few years later, battling arthritis until her death. In her 52 years in Las Vegas, she saw the city grow from 15,000 to nearly 1 million people. “She was a pioneer and she believed in the city and stayed with it,” Robert Forbuss said. She is survived by her son. Private services were handled by Palm Mortuary. The family requests donations to Aid for AIDS of Nevada or the Arthritis Foundation.” Las Vegas Review-Journal Newspaper, page 10B, 13 Feb 1994, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada USA.

DETAILS: SON ROBERT FORBUSS COMMENTS ABOUT MARJORIE FORBUSS. “{from page 3}Well, that’s a good story. Let me back up and give you a little history of [my] family. My mom [Marjorie Forbuss] was a farm girl, sort of like a small-town girl from Montana who decided early on in her youth that she didn’t want to live in Montana any longer. And so my mom and her girlfriend traveled west and they looked around in different places and came to Vegas; so in 1941 my mom came here, probably during World War II. And she liked it, she stayed here, she became a cocktail waitress at the Golden Nugget [Hotel and Casino]. My mom married, then divorced, and decided she was going to go buy her own house. So she sat down with a guy by the name of Mr. [Tom] Oakey and cut a deal to buy a Huntridge home, which at that time was a pretty difficult thing for a woman to qualify for a loan on a house. But she did; my mom had made enough money that she did have enough down payment. The house was something like five thousand dollars. She put five hundred dollars down or something like that. Her monthly payments were forty-three dollars a month. She saved every receipt. My mom passed away. I have a box literally of every receipt for that house that she bought in 1944 from Mr. Oakey. That house was for her. So my mom bought the house. I wasn’t born until many years later. {from pages 11-13} DID YOU GUYS DO SOCIAL ACTIVITIES, YOUR FAMILY, DID YOU DO NEIGHBORHOOD THINGS? Some. Yeah, my grandmother {Frances Keas} was quite a neighborhood lady, and that’s the other thing. My grandmother lived with us, so my grandmother was more social. My mom worked. My mom worked her whole life, essentially. AND DID SHE STAY IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY? No. No. In 1954, my mom decided to open her own business, which at that time was pretty difficult to do for a woman as well. I was about five years old. And she opened a dry cleaning business with my uncle {Omer Elmer Hamel}. My uncle and my mom together, fifty-fifty, opened I think it was maybe the third dry cleaning store in Las Vegas. She gathered the money together. At that time you couldn’t get bank loans, so she figured out how to launch it, and essentially it was the business that I grew up in, as a child. WHERE WAS IT LOCATED? It was located at Charleston [Boulevard] and Eastern [Avenue], right on the corner there. So my mom was always working. My grandma stayed at home. My mom was divorced from my dad {Elmer Lloyd Forbuss} when I was very young, a couple of years old, so I grew up as a single child. My grandma was the more social one in the neighborhood. She got very involved in elections and stuff like that. We knew all the neighbors, of course. I don’t recall any times where we’d go over and eat at their house or they’d come to our house and eat. Maybe that did happen in the neighborhood, but I don’t remember that, per se. I just remember close friends with everyone. Everyone knew each other. I GUESS I’M CURIOUS MORE TO KNOW HOW THE NEIGHBORHOOD INTERACTED OR WAS SITUATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRIP AS IT HAPPENED. OF COURSE, DOWNTOWN WAS KIND OF MORE THRIVING, I SUPPOSE, AT THAT POINT. You have to go back and time it out to see what was happening when but the El Rancho [Vegas Hotel and Casino was the first on the Strip]. Actually, that’s another place my mother did work before she worked in the dry cleaning business. As a matter of fact, I have some of the original paraphernalia from that hotel. But the El Rancho [built in 1941] was the first product on the Strip, if you would. It was located at what today is called Sahara [Avenue]—but that was originally called San Francisco Street—and Las Vegas Boulevard [previously Los Angeles Highway or Highway 91], which at that time was the Strip essentially. The El Rancho was the first property built, and subsequent to that there were several others that developed. Originally when my mom came to town, none of those existed. What she saw in terms of gaming was Downtown, and what she got as a job as a young woman was a job at the Golden Nugget. And I can’t remember the name of the guy she claimed to work for, but he was the owner of the Golden Nugget. [Note: Guy McAfee built the Golden Nugget in 1946. See Eugene P. Moehring and Michael S. Green, Las Vegas: A Centennial History, University of Nevada Press, 2003, p. 139.] She was very proud. I have a picture of my mom in her Golden Nugget work attire, this twenty-one-year-old girl. ”An Interview with Robert Forbuss”, An Oral History Conducted by Suzanne Becker, Voices of the Historic John S. Park Neighborhood, Oral History Research Center at UNLV, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, February 12, 2009.

DETAILS: SON ROBERT FORBUSS COMMENTS ABOUT LLOYD FORBUSS. “[from page 3-4} My dad [Lloyd Forbuss] met mm mother when he got out of the war and came to Las Vegas as a bartender. AND WHERE WAS HE ORIGINALLY FROM? He was from Oklahoma. [In] ’47 they met. WHAT ARE YOUR PARENTS’ NAMES? Lloyd Forbuss and Marjorie Forbuss. My dad was from Oklahoma and it actually turns out he was a hero in World War II, I didn’t even know it, which is kind of ironic, not until he got close to dying. He came here in 1945 at the end of World War II and went to work at the Green Shack [Restaurant] and met my mom and eventually they were married. And my mom already owned her Huntridge home, two doors away from John S. Park Elementary School. AND WAS SHE STILL WORKING AT THE GOLDEN NUGGET? Either she was at the Golden Nugget or at the Green Shack at that time. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the Green Shack. It’s sort of a famous place. When I was born, there’s a photograph of me, my mother, my dad, and they’re holding me in front of the Green Shack, in 1948, that little baby there. And my grandmother {Frances Keas} was working there, too. So my grandma was the cook, and my mom was the waitress, and my dad was the bartender, when I was born, at the Green Shack. An Interview with Robert Forbuss”, An Oral History Conducted by Suzanne Becker, Voices of the Historic John S. Park Neighborhood, Oral History Research Center at UNLV, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, February 12, 2009.

DETAILS: FRANCES MARIE KEAS OBITUARY. Frances Keas was the maternal grandmother of Robert Forbuss. “Keas, Frances Marie, 78, of 1020 Franklin St., died Saturday in a local rest home. Born Feb. 18, 1892, Gilmore, Mich. Survivors: daughters, Mrs. Mae Hamel and Mrs. Marjorie Forbuss, both Las Vegas; sister, MMrs. Emmett Buckley, Butte, Mont.; two grandsons, two great grandchildren. Services 10 a.m. Tuesday, Bunker Brothers Chapel, Burial Woodlawn Cemetery.” Las Vegas Review-Journal Newspaper, page 6, 27 Apr 1970, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

DETAILS: LOIE FORBUSS OBITUARY. Loie Forbuss was the paternal grandmother of Robert Forbuss. “Loie Forbuss. West Frankfort – Loie Forbuss, 93, died at 9:20 a.m. Friday, April 29, 1988, in Union Hospital. Services will be at 2:30 p.m. today in Bradshaw Funeral Home, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery in Malden, Mo. Visitation was Saturday at the funeral home. Mrs. Forbuss was a homemaker. She was a member of General Baptist Church. She was born April 29, 1895, in Indiana to Robert and Artemica (McKenzie) McCurter. She married John Forbuss. He died in 1966. Survivors include four sons, Roy and Don Forbuss, both of Grants Pass, Ore., Lloyd Forbuss of Las Vegas, Nev., and Terry Forbuss of High Ridge, Mo.; five daughters, June Sloan of West Frankfort, Audrey Mosley of Glendale, Ore., Gwen Hampton of San Pablo, Calif., Fern Trusty of Edmonds, Wash., and Ann Recker of Sikeston, Mo.; one sister, Oma Riggs of Glendale, Ariz.; 33 grandchildren; 30 great-grandchildren; and several great-great-grandchildren. Union Funeral Home is in charge of local arrangements.” Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois) newspaper, 01 May 1988, Sunday Page 14. Union Hospital was in West Frankfort, Franklin County, Illinois.

DETAILS: FINDAGRAVE MEMORIALS. The following memorial pages on findagrave.com are related or associated with Robert Forbuss (with the memorial ID number):

96697447 Robert Forbuss (self)
202008525 Marjorie A. Forbuss (mother of Robert Forbuss)
102232272 Elmer Lloyd Forbuss (father of Robert Forbuss)
201952688 Arthur Michael Keas (maternal grandfather of Robert Forbuss)
105448789 Frances Marie Keas (maternal grandmother of Robert Forbuss)
112598594 Mae Belle Hamel (aunt of Robert Forbuss)
202020903 ·Omer Elmer Hamel (uncle of Robert Forbuss)
202344610 Lee Roy Forbuss (paternal grandfather of Robert Forbuss)
202344648 Loie Forbuss (paternal grandmother of Robert Forbuss)
126222474 Benjamin D. Forbuss (paternal great-grandfather of Robert Forbuss)
126222290 Martha L. Forbuss (paternal great-grandmother of Robert Forbuss)
75481039 Roy C Forbuss (uncle of Robert Forbuss)
72689219 Donald Forbuss (uncle of Robert Forbuss)
187723539 Madeline Forbuss (aunt of Robert Forbuss)
111703328 Lena Tusty (aunt of Robert Forbuss)
111703150 Edward Tusty (uncle of Robert Forbuss)
105869684 Mary June Forbuss Sloan (aunt of Robert Forbuss)
94206099 Warren Sloan (uncle of Robert Forbuss)
202467846 David E. Forbuss (great-uncle of Robert Forbuss)
19510190 Thomas W. Forbuss (brother of David Forbuss)
113926899 Arter N. Forbuss (brother of David Forbuss)
207654904 Joseph Michael Coffin (friend of Robert Lee Forbuss)

DETAILS: COMMENTS ON RECORDS.

The data in this form may not be entirely correct, and additional data may be later discovered.

SOURCES. US census and state birth indexes from www.familysearch.org.

6 Aug 2020 Prepared by Randall Glenn Wick

IMAGE CAPTIONS

Robert Forbuss 1998 Chamber of Commerce newspaper profile. Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, 8 Dec 1998, page 1D. Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 2002 Board of Regents election loss report. Las Vegas Sun newspaper, 11 Nov 2002. Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 2002 blossoming community newspaper report. Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, 20 Oct 2002, page 1J. Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 2012 newspaper tribute. Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, 15 Aug 2012. Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 2012 newspaper obituary. Las Vegas Sun newspaper, 14 Aug 2012. Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 2002 home fund raiser for Patrick Kennedy newspaper report. Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, 23 Apr 2002, page 2B. Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 1980-1981 response to MGM Grand fire and Las Vegas Hilton fire in role with Mercy Ambulance Services. Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, 12 Mar 1981 (page 1A) and 10 Dec 1980 (page 11B). Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert Forbuss 1978 school district trustee campaign information. Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, 29 Jun 1978 (page 10A) and 29 Oct 1978 (page 14D). Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA.

Robert L Forbuss Elementary School, 8601 South Grand Canyon Drive, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA. Three photographs 25 Aug 2019. Named for Robert L. Forbuss (31 Jan 1948 – 12 Aug 2012).

Robert L Forbuss LGBTQ Building, 401 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA. Three photographs 29 Aug 2019. Named for Robert L. Forbuss (31 Jan 1948 – 12 Aug 2012).