Dr. Robert Skaggs was born April 2, 1932 and grew up around the St. Louis, Missouri area. His father was a teamster with a milk delivery route, tried his hand at the restaurant business, and during World War II worked for the United States Cartridge. Several members of Skaggs’s family were teachers, including his grandmother and a couple of aunts. Skaggs graduated from Normandy High School and afterwards attended the Missouri School of Mines and majored in metallurgical engineering. He graduated in 1954 and went to work for DuPont University for two years.
Cornelius John Smits was born on July 2, 1919, in Newark, New Jersey. Cornelius married Joan Owen on December 15, 1979, and they had five children: Eugene, Jill, Stuart, Sally, and Mary.
Smits obtained his bachelor of arts degree and master of arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Smits was enlisted in the United States Navy for thirty years.
Elmer Jesse Sowder was born on January 4, 1923, in Amarillo, Texas. Elmer married Jeanie on February 14, 1996, and they had four children: Carol, Cheryl, Kerry, and Kay.
Sowder attended Texas A & M College and was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
Sowder worked as a test director for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in affiliation with the Nevada Test Site.
Josiah Edward Spurr (1870-1950) was born into a family of fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He received his Master's degree in geology from Harvard University in 1894 and was appointed to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the same year. In 1896, Spurr was sent, with two other USGS geologists, to survey the Alaskan interior. This historically important expedition was followed in 1898 by an equally important journey down the 702 mile-long Kuskokwim River, surveying previously uncharted mountains, lakes, volcanoes and glaciers.