Brian Greenspun on Mother’s Day and the honoring of the Macks and commitment to family values

Sunday, May 14, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

For more years than I can remember, Joyce and Jerry Mack hosted a Mother's Day luncheon for my family, the Thomas family and a few others who have been here since the beginning of this town. Since Jerry passed away, Joyce has been carrying on that tradition, which has seen two generations turn into three and now four. My parents and the Macks were very close friends and my mother and Joyce remain very close after six decades of living and pioneering in Las Vegas.

Monday night I have the honor of speaking at the dedication of Jerry's school with a number of real Nevada dignitaries. It was 25 years ago on that same night that my father, Hank Greenspun, spoke at the dedication of the Nate Mack Elementary School in Green Valley, a school named after Jerry's father. There is a symmetry of family and purpose that cannot be denied.

My father wrote a Where I Stand column on May 17, 1981, about Nate Mack and his school, his dedication to this town, its children and its future that confirms the value of education and family. In it he previewed Nate's legacy through his son and grandchildren - a legacy they have lived up to without compromise.

As I considered the kind of Mother's Day column I would write for my mom and all the others in this city today, it struck me that the theme of education and dedication to family and community was the right course. It was also abundantly clear to me that, for my mother, for Joyce and for all the other moms who will understand and enjoy the message, Hank should be the messenger.

His column follows.

- Brian Greenspun, editor of the Las Vegas Sun

What an ideal place this earth would be if we could teach goodness as we teach reading and writing.

It might be an appropriate time to assess our community and ask where we are and where we are heading, and is the course a right one.

The dedication of a new school is evidence that a community is heading in the right direction. The naming of the school after a man who was known for the bigness of his heart places a responsibility on the school to perpetuate the spirit of the man.

The learning of the heart is the most neglected branch of education today because a heart can only learn from another heart. And if education is to be meaningful, it must offer learning in the head and heart.

The new elementary school opened in Green Valley, and dedicated Friday in the name and memory of Nate Mack is a school that has all the elements of being a unique citadel of learning.

It is a school situated in a totally planned community where the parents need not fear for the safety of their little ones.

No city or county officials can issue zone variances establishing commercial enterprises with its heavy industrial traffic, or bars from which drunken drivers or dope addicts can imperil the health and safety of the children.

The man for whom the school is named would have been pleased with the choice, for orderly growth of a community and the welfare of its children were his goals.

It is important that the people of Green Valley know fully the character of the man for whom their school has been named.

Nate Mack began his Southern Nevada career in Boulder City carrying freight and produce to the Six Companies constructing Boulder Dam. He owned the Boulder Cafe and even engaged in the clothing business on lower Fremont Street.

He was a dreamer and developer who could have been the wealthiest man in the state if his heart did not control his business mind.

He owned vast tracts of land at one time or another. And if anyone needed land upon which to build a hotel or business, Nate would sell, but always with the admonition: "Take a small profit and leave some for the next fellow."

He believed that should there ever come a day when the next man doesn't make a living, we are all in trouble.

Nate Mack was one of the founders of the Bank of Las Vegas, which is now Valley Bank of Nevada. As a banker, he probably would not fit the modern prototype, for his judgment was always based on the needs of his fellow men. He read the financial statement of a prospective borrower with his heart instead of his head.

My own memories of Nate Mack are deeply emotional, for, in a way, what little success I have been favored with is in large measure owed to him.

When I decided the town needed another newspaper, Nate took me to Spence Butterfield, of the Bank of Nevada, with the statement that I was going to start a newspaper and any check I wrote would be covered by him.

This was the start of the Sun. The faith he had in me continued far beyond that first check, for there were many times when payroll money was needed that Nate, or son Jerry, was there with the checkbook. If the loans weren't repaid as quickly as they should have been, Nate never reminded or suggested repayment.

His faith in his fellow man was the bedrock of his character. I know I was not the only one who prospered because of Nate Mack's big heart. He had hundreds of friends and I would guess that most of them had been recipients of his faith and generosity in time of need. I believe Nate Mack was the most successful man I ever knew because he had a multitude of friends and no enemies. He never turned his back on anyone who needed a hand up the ladder of life.

Particularly appropriate for the school is that Nate Mack came from a tradition of learning and seekers of knowledge. His forebears go back to King Solomon, whose wisdom taught us that, "a wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength."

From this background of aspiring for knowledge and education, Nate passed the tradition on to his own child and grandchildren.

Jerry Mack, like his father, believes in building temples of learning. He worked originally with Maude Frazier and Archie Grant to establish Nevada Southern, which is now UNLV. He has served on the Board of Trustees of his own alma mater UCLA and with Parry Thomas started the land foundation for UNLV, which was vital to keep the campus together.

A love of humanity and belief in the values of education so carefully nurtured by Nate Mack are carried on by his son and his grandchildren.

What nobler way could there be to memorialize a man whose life was devoted to serving others than to dedicate a citadel of learning in his name?

The Nate Mack school in Green Valley will fulfill all the requirements of a good education, learning from the heart and the head.

This was the spirit of Nate Mack.

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