Jimmy Mulidore grew up very poor in a predominantly Italian town in Youngstown, Ohio. His father and grandfather both worked for Youngstown Sheet and Tool steel mill. However, Mulidore’s father was against his son working at the mill, instead buying him a saxophone between the ages of 8-10 years old. Determined to chart a different course for his son, Mulidore’s father urged him to learn how to play the saxophone and added, if he did, he would not end up in the steel mill. Adhering to his father’s request, he started lessons with Albert Calderon.
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Jerry LeFors, from the "Greatest Generation," was born in Oklahoma in 1921 and attended grade schools in West Texas. He graduated from high school in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1938 and then continued his education at Cameron Junior College in Lawton, where he graduated in 1940.
While in college he enjoyed playing the drums and had his own dance band in addition to his studies. He also became enamored with flying aircraft and became a Civilian Flight Instructor in Illinois in 1941, following graduation.
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Musician, conductor, and arranger John W. (Johnny) Pate started his career as a self-taught bass player. Born in Illinois on December 5, 1923, Pate characterized his style as "Chicago soul," although he spent the majority of his career playing with jazz musicians. After his service in the AGF Army Band during World War Two, he played with Coleridge Davis' big band from 1947 to 1949.
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Dr. Donald Baepler was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in July of 1932. The family moved to Springfield, Illinois in 1936, where his father was president of Concordia Seminary. Donald decided at the age of seven that he wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in ornithology, not an unusual goal in his family. By the time he graduated high school, he knew that he wanted to attend Carlton College in Minnesota to study under Olin Sewall Pettingill. He followed world-famous ornithologist and artist George Sutton to Michigan and then to Oklahoma to complete his doctorate.
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"Dr. Charles West was a prominent African-American figure who worked to advance the cause of civil rights in Southern Nevada.
Charles I. West was born in Washington, D.C. on September 27, 1908. His parents, Dr. Charles and Rebekah West, had four children.
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Florence McClure worked on behalf of women in Las Vegas, co-founding the organization Community Action Against Rape (CAAR) and advocating for incarcerated women. Born Florence Alberta Schilling in Centralia, Illinois on September 26, 1919, she attended MacMurray College for Women before transferring to Hardin Business College where she graduated in October 1941.
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