Postcards -Virgil Getto, Part 3

Virgil Getto (1924-2014) had the distinction of serving three times in the Nevada State Assembly (1966-1976; 1978-1980; 1982-1988) and twice in the Nevada State Senate (1980-1982; 1988-1992). After he retired, he participated in the Nevada Legislature Oral History Project, and his recollections were printed in 2008. His Legislative Oral History leaves the reader with the sense that Getto was aggressive in his advocacy for education and local projects; he was instrumental in gaining support for a medical school in Nevada, a prison in Ely, and two new buildings in the Capitol Complex—the Nevada Supreme Court and the Nevada State Library and Archives.

And he was certainly ahead of his time in his support for clean energy. While a Senator, Getto was invited to join a Nevada delegation on a visit to Israel. He returned with a passion for renewables. 

Getto: “So when I came back, I was really fired up to achieve that [clean energy]. … Just think of the sun we have in Nevada…. We’ve got sunlight galore! In Israel, every house has a solar heater on it. Here, it costs 200 to 300 dollars a month to heat your house, and there, you heat it with solar…. We have lots of geothermal…. I sponsored a bill that gives a tax break to companies that put in geothermal…. That helped them get started here at Stillwater…” 

He also envisioned a day when the manure from local dairies would become a prized source of fuel. “You have probably twenty big dairies with piles of manure you can’t believe. They don’t even know what to do with it. If they had a huge plant to take the gas from that manure, they could furnish the energy for the whole town of Fallon and all this area.”
Beyond his views on legislative topics, Getto’s more personal anecdotes ring with humor and authenticity.

When he was asked about his relationship with Assemblyman and Senator Lawrence “Jake” Jacobsen, he related two entertaining stories.

Getto: “He was my good friend and a great fellow legislator. I helped him get elected Speaker. …He was very conservative, you know, so his first day as Speaker, he told the legislators that they must wear nice clothes. The men were to wear coats and ties, and the ladies would wear nice dresses. The next morning, the women came wearing slacks, all of them. …He had to back down…. The headline in one of the Reno newspapers read, ‘Stage Set for Women’s Fashion War in the Assembly.”

Getto and Jake (from Gardnerville) sometimes shared a room in Carson City while the Legislature was in session.

Getto: “But then [one morning] I had to leave before he did, so I got up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and there was a pair of really nice gray pants hanging on the hanger, just exactly like mine. So, I folded up these pants very neatly, put them in my suitcase, and went out very quietly. Well, Jake gets up in the morning. He had a history of traveling very light, a pair of pants, a clean shirt, and a tie for every day, and one nice jacket. So, he only had one pair of pants, and I took them. This was Sunday morning, and Jake was so mad. All the places were closed, and I guess he bribed somebody—probably one of the bellhops or somebody—to get him a pair of pants… Then I came home—Pat would always get my clothes ready for Monday morning—so she took these pants out, pressed them, and hung them on a hanger. Monday morning, I put on these pants, and they were six inches too big…. We laughed about that so many times.”

Getto’s Oral History is a road map to politics in the 1970s, 80s, and 90’s, filled with entertaining stories featuring the great characters of Nevada history and politics, from both political parties: Mike O’Callahan, Paul Laxalt, Richard Bryan, Joe Dini, Marvin Sedway, Lawrence Jacobsen, Sue Wagner, and Carl Dodge.

Yet, throughout his legislative tenure, he maintained a sense of wonder, almost disbelief that a “farm boy from Fallon” could become a state leader and even be invited to the Governor’s Ball.

Getto: “I was just a farm boy, so you can picture this. I had never been to Las Vegas in the big casinos and everything. Governor Laxalt had the Governor’s Ball, and it was a big affair there. Here I was in a tuxedo and my wife in a fancy dress, and we came out on the stage. They announced your name and where you were from, and then you walked down the steps and out through all the people. Can you imagine? Here I was just a farm boy! That was something!”

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