In 1965, Chilean-born Mariteresa Rivera-Rogers (b. 1943) and husband Enrique Rivera set out on their adventurous leap and moved to the United States. Sponsored by an aunt living in Las Vegas, their resident visas took only three months to process—a task that would take years in today’s world she explains. Their first home was on Convention Center Drive, though they and their four children would experience several different neighborhoods over the years.

Dallamy has beautiful memories of her childhood in Cuba where she played on the beach and in the fruit orchards. Her parents were separated, so she grew up with her mother and her siblings. Her father was a school teacher who was going to school for his doctorate. He urged Dallamy to pursue higher education, so she began a teaching program and was well on her way to receive a federal scholarship. In her last year of school Dallamy decided instead to move to the United States with her then partner.

Emory and Agnes Lockette met while they were both in college; she in Albany, Georgia, and he in Dawson, Georgia. He studied architectural and structural engineering. They secretly married in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1949 and moved to Boulder City in 1953 where they were the only African Americans during a time of tense race relations. She earned graduate degrees, including a doctorate in early childhood education, at UNLV. Initially, Mrs.