One of city's first female attorneys dies

Nelle Price came to Las Vegas in 1929 with her mother, Minnie Price, and the two prim and proper Eastern-bred ladies opened a tea house alongside what was then a dusty desert road in what is now the bustling downtown area.

The business, however, faltered because the tiny cups of home-brewed tea and the delicate finger sandwiches they served were nowhere near enough to satisfy the big appetites of the burley Hoover Dam workers and the strapping cowboy ranch hands -- the only real clientele base of that era in Southern Nevada.

"Her proper upbringing and the influence of what was then a rough-and -tumble Old West Las Vegas combined to inspire grandma to get a good education and become a very courageous and direct woman," Nelle's granddaughter, Alisa Thomas, said.

Nelle Price, a member of Las Vegas High School's first graduating class in 1931, became one of the first -- if not THE first -- female attorney in town. Yet after 22 years in the legal profession she gave it up 28 years ago and has since lived a quiet and unassuming life in Las Vegas.

Price died Friday at El Jen Convalescent and Retirement Center. She was 84.

Graveside services for the Las Vegas resident of 69 years were earlier today at Woodlawn Cemetery. Hites Funeral Services handled the arrangements.

Price was the former wife of late Las Vegas lawyer Roland Wiley, who built the popular open-aired Cathedral Canyon church on his Hidden Hills Ranch 50 miles west of Las Vegas and also served as Clark County district attorney from 1939-42.

Between 1931 and '41, Price and Wiley were married and divorced four times. During that period, Nelle went to the University of Southern California where, in 1939, she earned a bachelor's of science degree. Seven years later, she got a law degree there.

"Nelle was not only the first woman lawyer in Clark County, but she also was a real good attorney," former federal judge Harry Claiborne, a longtime Las Vegas attorney, said. "You could pass by Nelle's law office (on 3rd Street) on many late nights and see her working. She also was a gracious woman."

Thomas intends to follow in her grandmother's judicial footsteps. She is in her final year of law school at Santa Clara University.

Lisa Max, Nelle's daughter, said that although her mother was accomplishing things in the 1940s-60s that were rare for a woman then, she was not a feminist, nor did she think that what she was doing was necessarily helping the women's movement.

"She used to say that it's a man's world and that she always felt a little out of place in it," Max, a Las Vegas resident, said. "But she would fight like heck for her clients, especially the little guy. She was a strong Democrat who loved politics and she was an honorable person with high morals."

Born Jan. 25, 1914, in Columbus, Ohio, Price was the daughter of Thomas D. Price, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in that city. Minnie was a longtime local teacher and an artist.

Nelle graduated with honors from Las Vegas High and for a while attended the University of Nevada, Reno, and Ohio State University. After earning her law degree, she opened her general law practice in 1947 near what was then the new Nevada State Bank on 4th Street and became one of its first customers.

A stickler for fine fashion, Price regularly drove to Los Angeles to browse the finest apparel shops for the stunning courtroom attire for which she became noted.

Early on, Price took on criminal cases, but later specialized in family law, where she handled mostly divorces.

Max said her mother became disenchanted with criminal law while defending a man who was charged with murdering his 4-year-old son.

"The man admitted to her that he did it," Max said. "Mom did the best she could for him, but lost the case. After that, she never again took on clients who admitted they were guilty of the charges against them. She had to believe in the innocence of her clients to best represent them. No amount of money could change that."

In 1966, Price tried to follow in her father's footsteps by running for District Court judge. After losing, she told her family that her opponent "looks more like a judge than I do."

She retired three years later, citing health problems. In retirement, Price enjoyed playing bridge with fellow members of the Irish-American Club and bird-watching. She preferred the company of her pet rabbit to gentleman callers.

Indeed, she had had her fair share of beaus. In addition to Wiley, Price was married to seven other men -- some more than once -- her family said. Another ex-husband is former Las Vegas psychologist Remo Rossi, who now is retired and living in his native Italy. Their daughter, Max, also is a psychologist.

"Mom was a very romantic woman," Max said, noting that Price was divorced for the last time about 20 years ago. "She fell in love very easily."

In 1978, Price's daughter, Carol Wiley Thomas -- Alisa's mother -- was killed in an automobile accident.

On Christmas Day 1994, Price suffered a stroke which triggered a prolonged illness from which she never fully recovered.

Price was a member of Legion Lex, the Nevada State Bar Association, the California State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

In addition to her daughter and granddaughter, Price is survived by two sons, Richard Rossi of Las Vegas and John Wiley of Ann Arbor, Mich.; two other grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

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