Rawlings’ life filled with faith, song

A serenade by famed Mormon singer Michael Ballam will be offered as a tribute to G. Barney Rawlings, longtime Las Vegas entertainer, hotel executive and convention booster.

Despite several successful careers that coincided with the rise of the Strip, Rawlings was just as well known for his dedication to family, friends and the Mormon faith.

"I don't know that there has ever been a more used voice than his at funerals," said longtime friend Elder Robert Wells of St. George, Utah, an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "If there was a list, it would be in the thousands. He was just very prominent in any kind of LDS community event."

Rawlings died Thursday at home in St. George. He was 86. Wells will read and Ballam will perform at a funeral Rawlings planned himself, according to daughter Darlene Richards.

By the time Rawlings died, much of the Las Vegas entertainment scene had sunk to racy depths that didn't jibe with his spiritual lifestyle.

But the new standards took nothing from his contributions to the city's rise from Mojave desert outpost to global entertainment hub.

"His life pretty much paralleled the growth of the Strip," Wells said.

In addition to stints as an executive and vice president at the Tropicana, Riviera, Thunderbird and Sands hotels, Rawlings was an accomplished emcee and singer who had a streak of 3,128 consecutive performances at the Thunderbird in the 1950s.

He was also a highly decorated veteran who flew B-17 aircraft in combat in Germany during World War II and later served at Nellis Air Force Base during the Korean War. He also served in the Air Force Reserve. In 1978 he was recognized as Outstanding Reservist of the Year by the United States Air Force.

A devout Mormon, Rawlings nevertheless thrived in the world of Las Vegas entertainment. His casino singing career started in the late 1940s at the Railroad Pass Casino in Henderson and then quickly moved on to the Last Frontier.

His job as a singing emcee made good use of his silky voice, gentlemanly persona and encyclopedic knowledge of songs.

"He was always funny, jovial, happy, just set the audience at ease," Wells said.

But there were a few bumps in the road for Rawlings. Prominent among them was his forced resignation from the position of executive director of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in 1972.

At the time Rawlings cited "mixed emotions" about the resignation and blamed it on "political incompatibility" with others in the organization.

Later, in 1996, Rawlings told a Las Vegas Sun reporter his aggressive pursuit of a new wing to the Las Vegas Convention Center to improve convention business was perceived as an affront to the organization's efforts to build Las Vegas Stadium, now called Sam Boyd Stadium.

"I didn't oppose the stadium; I just felt that convention business was the wave of the future," he told the interviewer. Rawlings proved prophetic, as conventions are now worth more than $8 billion annually to the local economy.

The departure didn't keep Rawlings down for long. He emerged to work at the Tropicana and then, in 1981, became director of marketing for Trans American Video and ran a committee the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce established to lure film production to Nevada, according to news archives.

He also started his own production company, GEBARA.

In 1989 the death of his wife of 49 years, Hazel, sent Rawlings into despair. He told an interviewer he spent nights sitting alone in the dark for months. "As far as I was concerned, I had no future without Hazel," he was quoted as saying.

But he fell in love again, this time with Christine Ann Puff Russell. They married in 1990. The couple ran GEBARA together until his death.

"We shed some tears together on the phone," said Wells of his most recent conversation with Christine after Rawlings died. "She has total composure and is, of course, a lovely lady."

Wells said he last spoke with Rawlings on Monday. During a visit, the men discussed books, family and religion.

"He was jovial, alert mentally. He was weak, on oxygen, but we had a good visit," Wells said.

Wells read Rawlings passages from the Mormon novel "Out of Darkness," an exploration of scientific tenets behind the Book of Mormon.

"He was totally composed and looking forward to great reunions on the other side," Wells said. "He was a very spiritual man."

Rawlings is survived by his wife, Christine; brother, Hon. James Wilson Rawlings of Connecticut; daughters Darlene Richards and Nancy Rawlings of Las Vegas and Kathleen Danielson of Snowflake, Ariz.; son Brent Rawlings of Las Vegas; stepchildren Rocky Russell, Christy Pyhtila, Brandon Russell, Angel Lemmon and Polly Falk; 28 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

A viewing is scheduled for Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Las Vegas LDS Stake Center, 3400 W. Charleston Blvd. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the stake center with a viewing from 9 to 10 a.m. Burial will be at Bunkers Memory Gardens Cemetery, 7251 W. Lone Mountain Road.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.