Bold Boulder: Ila Clements-Davey, A True Pioneer

A Note About Our Stories: Boulder City Social celebrates the stories, memories, and folklore that make Boulder City unique. Some accounts have been passed down over the years and may include personal recollections or details that cannot be historically verified. These stories are shared for community and historical interest and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce or Boulder City Social.

Godbey family posed in penstock pipe, L-R: Everett Godbey, "Bun" Godbey, Lee Godbey (Everett's wife), Dale Bailey (Bun's cousin), Lina Fahrion (Erma Godbey's mother) holding: Alice Mae Godbey, Erma Godbey, Thomas Godbey, Ila Margaret Godbey, Monroe Sullivan, James "Jimmy" Godbey, Alice Sullivan (sister of Thomas Godbey), Tommy Godbey, Laura Lina Godbey, Samette "Sammy" Sullivan (Daughter of Joe & Alice Sullivan), Joe Sullivan (Courtesy of Boulder City Hoover Dam Museum)

This is the first in a series of articles featuring guest writer, Alan Goya. Alan is a long-time resident of Boulder City and somewhat of a raconteur who has collected a number of historical anecdotes about the people and history of our town. We open this series with a story of Ila M (Godbey) Clements-Davey, who passed away last month at the age of 95. Her obituary can be found HERE.

Ila M. Clements-Davey (Godbey) being a kid, Ragtown to Boulder City

Ragtown

The 31er’s of Boulder City Nevada were the folks who arrived in 1931 at the very beginning before the town was built. Those who did not have jobs yet, literally camped out on the banks of the then wild and muddy Colorado below Hemenway Wash in a place appropriately called Ragtown, with hopes of finding employment on the largest single construction project since the Pyramids and more recently the Panama Canal.

Now the powers that be did not plan on this encampment and certainly hadn’t considered that that the male white workers they were looking to employ would bring along wife and kids or for that matter non-white folks and their kids, but that’s another story. But they did come and in mass. Now living along the muddy river with no facilities or infrastructure in 110 degree plus heat (I’m writing this in August during an extended heat dome in the air-conditioned comfort of my Boulder City home).

The few locals who made their living along the river formed groups like Lend a Hand and Emergency Aid to help these desperate but hopeful people to survive. It is a testament to community of Boulder City that these organizations still exist almost 100 years later.

In this environment Tom Godbey brought his family including baby Ila in 1931 hoping and praying for a better future.

I first met Ila in the when she was, I think, 86 at the grand opening of the remodeled hotel in a top floor suite. I was in the bedroom next to the king-sized bed when a woman with the presence of Katherine Hepburn entered the room a proudly announced, “I had my honeymoon here!”. I was a bit perplexed, not knowing if I should leave her private space or start asking questions, so I introduced myself and told her I was interested in learning about Boulder City history.

What followed is a friendship that formed by our mutual interest of sharing the stories of Boulder City to future generations.

Being a Kid in Boulder City

At first glance and to most people who have lived here less than two years, Boulder City feels like a quaint, historic town that is frozen in time. But Boulder City has always been driven by technology, progress and sublimely on art.

Now the first thing they built in Boulder City was a 2-million-gallon water tank, which is the one that still looms over Denver Street. Now after they built the tank including all the sucking and or siphoning contraptions need to get the water from the river, it was said that water was too thick to drink, but too thin to grow anything in, so the next thing they built was a water filtration plant, yes the one that has been beautiful preserved with the Community Gardens and Teddy Fenton Memorial Park Reflection Center (no wonder I keep forgetting the name of the park) below Denver Street.

Now Ila’s Dad Tom got a job at the Water Filtration Plant and since Ila was still too young to go to school, she would often accompany her Dad to work. This was the 30’s version of bring your child to work day before of days of OSHA or social workers. Ila would love going up and down the elevator, but her favorite thing to do was to sit on the moving boom that swirled around the settling tanks where she would imagine herself sailing a ship all over the world. Which proves my maxim that what doesn’t kill you is memorable.

There is a well-known picture of the Ila and her sister Laura standing inside a section of the fabricated section of one of the diversion tunnel with family and friends showing the enormity of the tunnel. Ila remembers the photo taken on a very cold Christmas Morning of 1933. She was a very reluctant model she says because while the adults were all bundled up, she and her sister were dressed in little, short skirts and they thought they would freeze to death. Another memorable moment that they lived through.

When Ila was much older and in the 3rd grade the biggest movie star of the day was Shirley Temple. Now after the dedication of at the time Boulder Dam (how it becomes again Hoover Dam is another story), a lot of Hollywood Celebrities including child star Shirley Temple came out to see the wondrous dam that had just lit up Hollywood, Los Angeles and the rest Southern California. Shirley, her mother and their studio entourage stopped by Boulder City and visited the school which was located into today’s City Hall. Now Shirley had never been to public schools with children, most of her world was full of adults and tutors.

It just so happens that day of Shirley’s visit one of the students had called in sick, under dubious circumstances as she was an only child and her mother often indulged her. Since there was an extra chair and desk the teacher asked Shirley would like to join the class. Shirley was excited to be able to be with children and her mother seeing an opportunity for enrichment agreed to let her join the class for the rest of day. The 3rd grade class was on the first floor of the building adjacent to Arizona street and recess started instead of going through doors the kids would all crawl out the 1st floor window to go play in what is now Escalante Park. At recess Ila marveling at Shirley curled hair and beautiful outfit asked her what the difference between her and other kids and Shirley answered without arrogance and with the simple truth of young innocence said “money”. When asked later by the press what she thought of public schools Shirley Temple exclaimed “Just swell!”.

Ila was a kid the grew up in special time and place Boulder City Nevada. She grew up in a time of tremendous changes in the world, including the Great Depression, the electrification of the west, World War II and emergence, growth and dominance of the once frontier west.

We spent our time together talking about the past of Boulder City including its later years after when she left and came back and spent her honeymoon with her second husband at The Boulder Dam Hotel. She knew and socialized with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez Sr when they were in Boulder City supporting their son Desi Jr. before the couple separated. She was there when President Franklin Roosevelt arrived by special train where he disembarked at the Water Treatment Plant at the end of Railroad Ave and got into a special limousine which hid the fact the President was wheelchair bound, that took him to the Dedication of what he then called Boulder Dam. But her best memories of all was flying kites in Boulder City, but that’s another story.