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Kwon, Myoung-ja Lee
Myoung-ja Lee Kwon was born in 1943 on the grounds of the Kyongbok Palace in Korea. Her father’s occupation as a university professor which gave the family a higher status and allowed them to live in a state of prosperity. But war changed these circumstances. In 1965, after graduating from Seoul National University, Kwon got married and moved to the United States of America, where a year later she earned a Master’s degree in Library Science from Provo, Utah.
Person
Semenoff, Sasha
Sasha Semenoff (1924-2013) was born Abram Shapiro in Riga, Latvia. Sasha played the piano at age 6 and got his first violin at age 9. In a 2009 Las Vegas Sun interview, Sasha told the story that while being transported to a concentration camp a German Nazi soldier saw him holding a mandolin and instructed him to play “La Paloma.” To his great fortune, he was able to do so and always felt that that moment saved his life.
Person
Shaw, Gilbert "Gil", 1928-
Gilbert Shaw, better known as Gil, was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles, California, where he had his bar mitzvah. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the US Navy and became a combat correspondent. The next twenty-seven years was a military career in both the Navy and Coast Guard and included service in both Korea and Vietnam. His training as a journalist and photographer gave him a trained eye on the history around him. This gave him a keen eye on his experiences as a founding member of Las Vegas' first Reform Judaism synagogue, Congregation Ner Tamid.
Person
Leone, Frank
Frank Leone was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1940. He began playing the piano as a young child and by junior high school, Leone was participating in the school orchestra alongside Frankie Avalon. In high school he played piano in the symphony and joined Local 77 in Philadelphia in 1955 at the age of fifteen. While in Philadelphia, Leone started playing teenage dances as a member of a quintet and eventually began recording. Frank would earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Curtis Institute.
Person
Allen, Harvey, 1931-
Harvey Allen grew up poor in Philadelphia. After taking singing lessons at the Artie Singer Vocal School, he got jobs singing in night clubs up and down the east coast. He also took acting classes in New York and performed at the Copa Club. In the 1950s, he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and auditioned for Jack Entratter at the Sands Hotel and Casino where he performed with numerous entertainers including Lena Home, Louis Armstrong, Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Merrill.
Person
Brewer, Andrew
Andrew "Andy" Brewer was born in and went to high school in La Grange, Georgia. Brewer joined the military and discusses his attempts to get a job after his release, and his experiences in New York City. He shares that after working in a factory, running a driving school, and working as a porter, he ended up as a bus driver for 21 years. After his wife passed away in 1999, Andy was searching for somewhere to retire. He tried the South because his daughters were there, and he lived for a short time in Durham, North Carolina.
Person
Bowser, Ida M.
Ida Bowser was born in Tallulah, Louisiana, and in 1955 at the age of 10 she was brought to Las Vegas, Nevada to join her mother and other family members. The family originally lived on Washington and H Streets, and later moved to Madison Avenue. Ida and her brothers and sisters attended Madison Elementary School right down the block.
Person
Poon, Percy
Dr. Percy Poon was born January 10, 1958 in Hong Kong, China, the oldest of four children. He attended Catholic school through junior high and high school, but decided to work after high school instead of going on to college. After working in banking and police forensics for a couple of years, he decided to continue his education.
Person
Richardson, Vicki
Vicki Richardson was born in 1945 in Wilmington, Delaware. As a junior in high school, she was one of 12 African American students chosen to integrate the school system. She was a Civil Rights activist in high school and, throughout college, writing letters to local newspapers and engaging in protests to desegregate public spaces. At Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Richardson studied philosophy and theology.
Person