James interviewed his father, Joseph, for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas.

Thornton Duard "TD" Barnes was born in Texas on January 25, 1937, grew up on a ranch at Dalhart, Texas, and graduated from Mountain View High School, Oklahoma. He then embarked on a ten-year military career. He served as an army intelligence officer in Korea. Following two years of radar and missile electronics schooling, he taught foreign students the Nike radar and missile system, and deployed with a Hawk missile battalion during the Soviet Iron Curtain threat. He attended Artillery OCS, where an injury ended his military career.

Joseph De Meis has 40 years of professional experience in design work. Before retirement, he developed imaginative and artistic themes while also addressing retail centers, such as Caesar's Palace Forum Shops and the Magical Empire. He was responsible as senior art director for completing the Red Sea Astrarium project in Jordan for RGH Themed Entertainment. Mr.