Patricia Geuder was born August 15, 1931 in Pontiac, Michigan. She moved to Nevada in July of 1957 to accept a teaching position at Basic High School in Henderson, Nevada. She went to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to obtain her master’s degree when there was only one building on the whole campus: Grant Hall. Geuder became part of the Department of English staff of UNLV in 1966. She left to Albuquerque, New Mexico during 1970-1971 to work on her doctorate degree, and moved back to Las Vegas to work as a Humanities professor.
Martha Drohobyczar was born on November 21, 1951 and grew up in Illinois, three generations removed from slavery. Even though her first college degree was in government and national relations, Drohobyczar found an accelerated nursing program at St. Louis University in 1975 and graduated a year later with a bachelor’s in nursing.
Peter Gratton was born in 1944 in Staten Island, New York, where his father was in the Coast Guard. However, he spent his childhood in Minnesota. From 1965 to 1969, Peter was a member of the US Marine Corps, serving a tour in Vietnam. As his military duty was ending, he learned that his parents were relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada, so he moved with them after leaving the marines.
Judith was born January 9, 1926 in Santa Monica, California. She graduated from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California with a degree in Business and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1948. Judith worked for Bonanza Airlines as a stewardess, later marrying Karsten T. Bronken (1921-1990). After Karsten's passing, Judith later remarried Dr. Harold Boyer, a long-time dermatologist in Las Vegas, on March 10, 1995.
Roscoe Wilkes was born in Bonanza, Colorado on Janruary 25, 1918. He moved with his family to Pioche, Nevada in 1927. He was a lead zinc miner, a grade school teacher, and a PBX operator before he enlisted in the military during World War II. Wilkes was a prisoner of war in Romania. He got a law degree and went back to Pioche where he was a district attorney and later a judge.
James “Jim” Bonaventure was born June 15, 1949 and was raised in Steubenville, Ohio. His family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1958. He’s worked since he was 13 years old and entered the hotel casino industry at 16. The weekend buffet at the Hacienda Hotel was not his cup of tea, but he hit his stride at his second job, the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino, and stayed there for seven and half years. But it was the work at the Union Hall that he loved.