--- title: 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' Sign Designer Betty Willis Dies at 91 description: Betty Willis, who designed the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign that became a globally recognized icon of hedonism, died Monday aged 91. canonical: https://time.com/3829207/welcome-to-fabulous-las-vegas-sign-betty-willis/ author: Sabrina Toppa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-21T06:53:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:22:36.224Z article:section: History og:title: Designer of Iconic 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' Sign Dies og:description: Betty Willis was 91 og:url: https://time.com/3829207/welcome-to-fabulous-las-vegas-sign-betty-willis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88ec9f6260a414a7/6987ec0bcd1bba856d6f90cf/ap215530176080.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Tourists take pictures on Feb 12, 2009 in front of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" neon sign in Las Vegas. Betty Willis, the woman who designed the iconic neon sign that has welcomed countless visitors to Las Vegas since 1959 has died. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Designer of Iconic 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' Sign Dies twitter:description: Betty Willis was 91 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88ec9f6260a414a7/6987ec0bcd1bba856d6f90cf/ap215530176080.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Designer Who Created the Iconic 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' Sign Has Died > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Apr 21, 2015 6:53 AM UTC  Tourists take pictures on Feb 12, 2009 in front of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" neon sign in Las Vegas. Tourists take pictures on Feb 12, 2009 in front of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" neon sign in Las Vegas. Jae C. Hong—AP by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Apr 21, 2015 6:53 AM UTC Nevada graphic designer Betty Willis, who created the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign that became a globally recognized icon of hedonism, died Monday at age 91, according to the [Neon Museum](https://www.facebook.com/NeonMuseum/posts/10152799496235754). Her design, gifted to Las Vegas in 1959, is emblematic of [Googie](http://www.archdaily.com/148641/googie-architecture-futurism-through-modernism/) architecture, with its characteristic futuristic motifs. Although the sign is formally owned by the Young Electric Sign Co., its image remains perennially in the public domain, with reprints adorning all manner of Vegas memorabilia from coffee mugs to T-shirts. “Visitors see the sign with the twinkle in it and know they’ve got a license to enjoy themselves,” former Las Vegas mayor Oscar B. Goodman [told](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E6DE1738F930A25752C0A9639C8B63) the New York _Times_ in 2005. Willis was brought up outside Las Vegas and worked at Western Neon in 1952, after attending school in Los Angeles in 1952\. “We thought the town was fabulous, so we added the word,” she once [said](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E6DE1738F930A25752C0A9639C8B63). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3829207/welcome-to-fabulous-las-vegas-sign-betty-willis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3829207/welcome-to-fabulous-las-vegas-sign-betty-willis/"},"headline":"Designer Who Created the Iconic 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' Sign Has Died","datePublished":"2015-04-21T06:53:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:22:36.224Z","description":"Betty Willis was 91","url":"https://time.com/3829207/welcome-to-fabulous-las-vegas-sign-betty-willis/","keywords":["Design","remembrance","obituary","Las Vegas","Nevada"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88ec9f6260a414a7/6987ec0bcd1bba856d6f90cf/ap215530176080.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88ec9f6260a414a7/6987ec0bcd1bba856d6f90cf/ap215530176080.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tourists take pictures on Feb 12, 2009 in front of the \"Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas\" neon sign in Las Vegas. 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