Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal United movers, from left, Jason Walker, Robert Walker and Hector Cardenas, load items at the Governor's Mansion on Thursday as first lady Dema Guinn has the first of at least three loads of belongings moved to their Las Vegas and Reno homes. The Guinns will complete the move after spending their last Christmas with their grandchildren in the mansion, where they have lived for the past eight years.
Moving vans arrived at the Governor's Mansion this week as Gov. Kenny Guinn and his wife, Dema, began moving out.
Spokesman Steve George said the Guinns aren't moving out immediately. He said they expect to leave the mansion sometime in mid-December. But, he said, they have a large number of personal possessions in the mansion that have to be packed up and moved either to their family home in Las Vegas or their new residence in Reno's Montreaux development.
George said many of the furnishings and fixtures in the mansion are state property, including such things as the big silver candelabra in the front of the mansion, which was borrowed from the state museum's Mackay collection and a large portrait of Lincoln and the dining-room table, which has been there through the tenure of several governors.
But many other pieces of furniture and decorations belong to the Guinns.
"Mrs. Guinn wanted to make it their home and personalize it," George said. "So they did bring up furniture from their Las Vegas home, and Mrs. Guinn bought many items for the mansion."
And after eight years living there, he said, they have accumulated a lot of personal belongings which now have to be moved - including the large collection of Halloween decorations that have adorned the mansion every October for the past eight years.
After the Guinns vacate the mansion, it will be readied for Governor-elect Jim Gibbons and his wife, Dawn, to move in after Gibbons takes the oath of office Jan. 1.
• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.