Tuesday, July 13, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.
Laura Kelch, co-founder of one of Las Vegas' first radio stations and a member of a local family that helped convince the military to keep Nellis Air Force Base open after World War II, died Monday in Las Vegas. She was 91.
No services were planned for the Las Vegas resident of 65 years. However a public gathering to celebrate Kelch's life is pending, her family said.
"With the death of Laura Belle Kelch, Las Vegas has lost one of its pioneers," Las Vegas lawyer and friend John H. Mowbray said in a statement.
With her husband, Maxwell, she co-founded Las Vegas' first radio station, KENO, in 1940 at the then-new El Rancho Vegas casino on the Strip, where for 10 years they got free rent as long as she and other broadcasters on air mentioned the resort as the station's locale.
Kelch also was a member of the Citizens Library Association for 25 years, where she helped raise funds to build a library that in 1952 was donated to the city of Las Vegas, and was a leading supporter of the arts as a prominent Southern Nevada water colorist.
Nine months before her husband died in 1977, Kelch was named Nevada Mother of the Year by the American Mothers Association.
"The Kelches helped focus community efforts to capitalize on post-World War II tourism," Mowbray said. "Laura Belle's support for the arts laid the foundation for many of the cultural amenities that Southern Nevadans enjoy today. And while her civic and cultural contributions were numerous, none was appreciated more by me than her support to the Boulder Dam Area Council Boy Scouts of America."
Mowbray, who last year served as president of the Boulder Dam Area Council Boy Scouts, said Kelch was a member of the organization for more than a half century, including serving on the executive board from 1978 to 2003. She was awarded Scouting's highest council award, the Silver Beaver, in 1979 and was involved with the Girl Scouts, serving as a longtime troop leader.
"My aunt should be remembered as an influential force during the formative days of Las Vegas and as an enthusiastic supporter of its development since then," said Bill Gang, a former Las Vegas Sun reporter who today is spokesman for the Nevada Supreme Court.
"She and her husband (through their radio station) were responsible for providing emergency information to Southern Nevadans during World War II. She was one of the first women to become a member of the Rotary Club. Over the years she was involved in a variety of civic organizations and endeavors that helped young people, in particular, excel."
Gang said that while Kelch supported Las Vegas' growth she often fondly recalled the simpler times when she would "ride her horse downtown from her home off West Bonanza Road to do her shopping in the stores on Fremont Street."
Born Laura Belle Gang in Cincinnati on Sept. 13, 1912, she earned an associate's degree in interior design from the University of Cincinnati before moving to New York and then to Hollywood and Las Vegas.
In the early 1940s Kelch, going by the stage name Peggy Maxwell, had her own daily radio show on KENO called "Listen Ladies," where she gave tips on growing victory gardens and other domestic topics that aided the home front war effort.
Kelch was a charter member of the Las Vegas Art League, now called the Las Vegas Art Museum, and served as its chairwoman. She also taught watercolor classes at the Community College of Southern Nevada and at Hyde Park Junior High School. In 1958 she became a charter member of the Nevada Water Color Society.
Kelch served on several organization boards including the Salvation Army Advisory Board for nearly 20 years, the Community College Board for 15 years, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce for 20 years, the Mesquite Club and the PEO Sisterhood Chapter G, a philanthropic organization to further higher education for women.
Kelch is survived by her daughter Marilyn Kelch Gubler; her son Robert Maxwell Kelch; and three grandchildren, Laura Louise Dahl, Matthew Gray Gubler and Brian Robert Kelch.
Donations in Kelch's memory can be made to the Boulder Dam Area Council Boy Scouts of America, her family said.
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