Theron Goynes was born August 20, 1929 in Texarkana, Texas. He attended college at Texas A & M University, was in the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), served in the United States Air Force, and then became an educator. Goynes met his future wife, Naomi Jackson, in Nashville, Arkansas where they were both young teachers in 1956.
Helen Anderson was born Helen Eileen Herndon on May 03, 1926 in Marceline, Missouri. She attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and received her Master’s degree in speech corrections/therapy from the University of Southern California. In the early 1960s, a romance with Las Vegas, Nevada civil rights worker Jim Anderson budded in Los Angeles, California at the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) meetings. In 1964, they got married and she moved to Las Vegas.
Hermina Washington was born December 23, 1957 in Henderson, Nevada. To take advantage of emerging opportunities for African Americans, her parents migrated from Arkansas to Las Vegas, Nevada, joining several extended family members already settled in the city. Growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, Washington was surrounded by strong, inspiring role models, including her grandmother and educators.