Alan Clancy was born on April 05, 1949 in Sidney, Australia. His parents enrolled him in the Shirley de Paul Studio to learn gymnastics, tap, ballet, and Jazz. Clancy also became a soprano singer. He moved to the Rudas Acrobatic Studio and was eventually contracted by Tibor Rudas to join The Las Vegas Dancers. Clancy went on a 2 1/2 year international entertainment tour with that group. Eventually Tibor Rudas offered Alan a contract to work in the Folies Bergère at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mahlon Brown was born in 1940. He was a policeman in Washington, D.C., during the 1960s, an attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada along with Jack Anderson in the Las Vegas Welfare Rights Movement, a Justice of the Peace, and a Nevada, United States Attorney General under President Jimmy Carter.

Eugene Williams was born June 15, 1944 into a musical family and grew up in Fresno, California. His mother and father were both singers, and he and his siblings grew up singing. Williams sang in the church choir before forming his own groups, the Vells and the Precision Six. Buck Ram signed Williams to the Platters in 1970, with whom he performed for eighteen years.

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.

Rejoyce Williams was born April 26, 1905 in Fordyce, Arkansas. She left Fordyce when she was 17 for Oceanside, California, with her husband and their two children. The family then moved to Saginaw, Michigan, and eventually had nine children, six of whom survived. In 1960, the Williams family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada for two reasons: their youngest daughter, who suffered from asthma, needed to live in a dry climate and Williams’ mother-in-law lived in Las Vegas.

Ira Goldberg grew up in the Bronx in New York City, New York. Goldberg moved to Las Vegas in 1978 with his wife from the Bronx, New York. Goldberg was a teacher in New York and continued to teach in Las Vegas. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and education and a master’s in counseling. While in Las Vegas he became an addiction specialist and a marriage and family counselor. He has owned his own small private practice dealing with marriage and family for the last thirty years.

Barbara Kirsh was born in 1957 and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was involved in the Jewish community, attending Hebrew School and teaching at the United Synagogue Youth as a teenager. Kirsch went to college in Colorado and Boston and after her education moved back to Las Vegas to get involved with the family business, Ideal Office Equipment. When she moved back to Las Vegas she got involved with the Jewish Federation and was in the Young Leadership group. She has been an active member of Midbar Kodesh since its founding.