Betty Willis, artist behind ‘fabulous Las Vegas’ sign, dies at 91

Nevada lost two artists instrumental in creating the Las Vegas look on Sunday.

The designer of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Betty Willis, 91, died Sunday at home in Overton, about 65 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Willis, dubbed “the birth mother of fabulous” by the New York Times in 2005, also designed signs for the Moulin Rouge casino and the Blue Angel Motel, among others. The welcome sign project on the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard started in 1959 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

“The fact that everyone loves that sign and its design after all these years is a testament to Betty’s talents,” Clark County Commission Chair Steve Sisolak said Monday in a statement. “It has to be the most photographed sign in the world and one of the top spots in Las Vegas to get your picture taken. There is probably no bigger Las Vegas icon than that sign.”

Brian “Buzz” Leming, 74, also died on Sunday. Leming worked on neon icons including the signs for the Stardust, Barbary Coast and Westward Ho.

“I think it’s impossible to underestimate the significance of them,” Neon Museum Director Danielle Kelly said Monday. “They were true artists.”

Willis has four pieces in the museum, and Leming has more than that, Kelly said. Leming and Kelly struck up a friendship when he designed a sign for the museum — probably the last piece he made. She met Willis when she celebrated her 90th birthday at the museum, she said.

And Kelly won’t be the only one taking their deaths personally. She said thousands of people come to see their art from all over the world.

“The neon sign is in many ways a Las Vegas art form,” she said. “The two of them were truly masters of the field.”

Kelly said everyone at the Neon Museum is reeling from the loss of such important designers, but they will definitely be talking about a way to honor them in the coming days.

The viewing and services for Willis will be held 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 226 W. Thomas Ave., in Overton. The burial will follow at Moapa Valley’s Pioneer Hill Memorial Cemetery.

Information about services for Leming was not available Monday.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl.