Nevada’s motto, “Battle Born” refers to Nevada gaining statehood in 1864 during the height of the Civil War. In a way, you could say the same motto applies to Kathy McClain. Kathy was born in Greeley, Colorado during World War II while her father served in the Army Air Corps in England and her mother worked in a "war plant" munitions factory in Denver. When Kathy’s father returned after the war, the family moved to the family farm in Northeast Iowa.
As the family settled into farm life, Kathy’s parents had four more children, three girls and a boy. As the oldest, Kathy was expected to take more responsibility, watching the other children and helping with farm work. She did farm chores, milked the cows and fed the animals. Come harvest time, she helped cook meals for 20 harvest workers and joined in the harvest of corn, oats and hay.
In the small farming community where Kathy’s family lived, much of life revolved around school. The same school building housed all classes from kindergarten through senior high. Each day Kathy would get on the school bus, driven by Kathy’s grandmother, for a one-hour ride to the same school her parents and paternal grandparents attended.
Times were different then and Midwestern families tended to stay put. Of the 32 children in Kathy’s kindergarten class, 26 of them graduated together from Coggon High School (Kathy graduated 3rd in her class). In a small high school like Coggon, Kathy played on the girls’ basketball team and was a member of the cheerleading squad.
After graduation from high school, Kathy wanted to join the Navy, but her parents were strongly against it and no matter how hard she worked to finance it, college remained unaffordable.
Becoming independent and married . . .So, instead of college or the military, Kathy moved to Colorado where she was born and where an extended family of grandparents, aunts and uncles still lived. Soon after her move, Kathy married.
Kathy and her husband applied to become adoptive parents thinking the process would take several months and they would have plenty of time to get ready. To their surprise, they were contacted within weeks and told a baby girl was immediately available. At age 21, and with little time to prepare, Kathy and her husband brought home their daughter Trish.
When the marriage ended, Kathy became a single mom, working and raising her daughter. During this point in her career she worked as a key punch operator and held other data processing jobs. She went to work for a Colorado school district starting with data processing and moving up to the position of a high school registrar and student class scheduler.
College the hard way, and new opportunities . . .When her daughter Trish went off to college, so did Kathy. She worked days and attended college evenings, taking night classes for almost five years. First she earned an Associate Degree in computer programming and then a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Economics. She was also promoted to the position of budget analyst for the Aurora, Colorado public school district.
In 1990, with her long sought after degree and the self-confidence of proving herself as a valued employee, Kathy decided it was time to change her life too. Like thousands of others, Kathy moved to Las Vegas where she took a job as a registrar and instructor at a private business school. She also enrolled in graduate school at UNLV, receiving her Masters Degree in Public Administration in 1993. She also earned an Academic Certificate in Gerontology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2003, and hopes to pursue an advanced degree in the field in the future.
When Kathy met David a new family and new job opportunities . . .
During her work at the private business school, Kathy met David McClain. After several years of dating, Kathy and Dave were married in 1994, blending their two families together. The couple has three children and four grandchildren. The McClain’s love to cook, entertain, travel, and sail.
That Masters Degree qualified Kathy for a job as a management analyst in the county manager’s office of Clark County. From 1995 through 1997, she was trusted to be part of the Clark County government team assigned to work with the legislature and help clarify the effects of proposed legislation on the county’s role and efforts. Kathy also took on special projects for the county, spearheading the creation of the Senior Advocate Program in 2001.
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That legislative experience, coupled with encouragement from trusted friends and legislators, convinced Kathy that she could do the job as a legislator. In 1998 she filed for the office of State Assembly, District 15. Kathy won both a contested primary election and the subsequent general election to take her place in the Nevada State Assembly as the Assemblywoman representing District 15 in the eastern portion of urban Las Vegas.
Since 1998, Kathy McClain has run for re-election every two years, winning re-election and gaining influence in the Nevada State Legislature. She received top committee assignments, served as the chair of a key committee and earned positions on important interim committees assigned to dig into knotty issues and bring recommendations back to the entire legislature. Kathy’s hard work won her appointment to the “Core Group” which meets to work through legislative roadblocks and get priority measures passed.
Taking legislative leadership . . .Kathy’s legislative work features a wide range of seniors’ and veterans’ issues, gaining her respect as an expert in both fields. Kathy served as Chair of the Taxation Committee and as a member of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, and the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee. She has also served on the Judiciary, Transportation, Elections, Procedures, Ethics, Constitutional Amendments, and Health and Human Services committees. Also included in her assignments was The Select Committee on Corrections, Parole , and Probation.
Her legislative duties also include membership on the Nevada Commission on Aging, Chair of the Nevada Veterans’ Services Commission, Interim Finance Committee, and Interim Legislative Committee on Seniors, Veterans and Special Adult Populations. She chaired the Interim Study on Seniors and Veterans and successfully transitioned the study into a statutory committee. She also chaired the Task Force for a Healthy Nevada and served on the Interim Legislative Health Care Committee for several years. She works closely with the Nevada Silver Haired Legislative Forum and was appointed by Governor Guinn to serve on the state’s Senior Services Strategic Plan Oversight Committee. Kathy also chaired the Aging and Disabled Resource Center Advisory Committee.
For a more extensive view of Kathy McClain’s legislative record please take a look at the “Record of Service” page of this website.
And continuing her community involvement . . .Kathy McClain has always been an active volunteer member of the Southern Nevada community. Her professional and legislative work give her additional insight for issues people face, and she’s been asked to serve in leadership positions because of that.
Kathy is retiring from her county position in January, but will remain active in senior and veteran issues from the statutory committee to maintaining the Senior Service Providers Task Force she developed and the efforts of the Elder Abuse Task Force.
Kathy’s organizational involvement includes: HELP of Southern Nevada, board member; Nevada Senior Olympics; Nevada Elder Abuse Task Force; Seniors United; Women’s Democratic Club; Alzheimer’s Association of Southern Nevada; Nevada Women’s Lobby; National Conference of State Legislatures; NCSL Women’s Legislative Network, President-Elect; American Association of University Women; and the NEW Leadership program at UNLV.
Kathy actively advocates for all her neighbors, whether the problem is local or state and has a strong record for helping her constituents. As a long-time resident of an “older area” in the heart of southern Nevada, Kathy works hard to make sure our schools and neighborhoods receive our fair share: the same attention from state and local governments that the newly created suburbs expect.