James Jones Jr. was born September 11, 1939 in Waverly, Louisiana. In June 1959, James Jones looked forward to moving to Las Vegas, away from farming in Waverly, Louisiana. His first job was at Gilbert's Grocery Store on D Street. Within a couple of years, he secured a position in the mailroom for REECO (Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company) at the Nevada Test Site. He would work there for over three decades. Among his memories is a four-hour job at the Blue Onion as well as singing with the choir gathered the day Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jake “Jakie” Freedman (1891-1958) was a notorious gambler and oilman from Houston, Texas. He helped establish the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as investor and gaming director.

Soldier and explorer Joseph Christmas Ives graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1852. In 1855, he married Cora Semmes Ives. From 1857 to 1858, Ives commanded an expedition to explore up the Colorado River to the lower end of the Grand Canyon. He then crossed the desert to Fort Defiance in Colorado. The Ives expedition produced one of the important early maps of the Grand Canyon. Ives served in the American Civil War for the Confederate Army and was promoted to aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel.