Politician Oran Kenneth Gragson was the longest serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, a position he held from 1959 to 1975. He was born February 14, 1911, near Tucamari, New Mexico. In 1919, his family moved to Arkansas, then later to Texas. Gragson came to the Las Vegas area in 1932, and worked at the Hoover Dam for a short time before finding employment in highway construction. He managed the Boulder Inn Casino and Dance Hall for a brief time, and later opened the North Main Furniture Store, followed by the Charleston Appliance Center.

Edward May was concieved by his parents Edd May and Rosetta Turner May while they resided in Marshall, Texas. The May family relocated while pregnant with Ed and he was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on Ocober 23, 1955. Ed was the oldest of five children. May attended UNLV, Cornell and Harvard, and is involved with Victory Baptist Church.