"In 1982, the Thunderbirds suffered a catastrophic loss during pre-season training on 18 January. While practicing the four-plane diamond loop, the formation impacted the ground at high speed, instantly killing all four pilots: Major Norman L. Lowry (commander/leader), Captain Willie Mays, Captain Joseph N. "Pete" Peterson, and Captain Mark Melancon."
Taken from Wiki page: "Corbett Monica (June 1, 1930 – July 22, 1998) was an American comedian who appeared 18 times on The Ed Sullivan Show. He also was a frequent guest host of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and was one of 'The Comics' at the Carnegie Deli in Woody Allen's 1984 movie, Broadway Danny Rose. Monica appeared with Frank Sinatra so often that he became a junior member of the Rat Pack, and later became Joey Bishop's sidekick, from 1963 to 1965, as Larry Corbett, Mr.
Otis R. Harris Jr. was born May 19, 1941 to Otis R. Harris Sr. and Florence Harris. In the early 1940s, after an argument with a white person, Otis Harris's father decided to relocate from Texas to California. During the trip west, he stopped in Las Vegas where they were hiring at the Basic Magnesium plant. Though he only worked there briefly, Las Vegas became home to the Harris family. In this interview, Otis talks about his father's hard working nature and being raised with seven siblings in Las Vegas.
Wilma (Frank) Bass (1939- ) is a retired Las Vegas, Nevada jewelry salesperson. Born and raised in New York, New York, Bass graduated from high school around 1958. She married Burt Bass in 1960 and the family moved to Las Vegas in the 1974.
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.
Rabbi Malcolm Cohen was born on October 7, 1973 in London, England. His mother worked as an office assistant, and his father ran a bookshop and also prepared youth for their bar and bat mitzvahs. It was his father’s dedication to Jewish education and service that influenced his career path. After earning a degree in psychology from Southampton University, Cohen went on to get a professional qualification in youth and community work.
Harry Kogan was born March 11, 1916 to poor Russian immigrant parents in the Jewish ghetto of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kogan sometimes walked to school shoeless, with no hat nor a raincoat. A treat would be his mother handing him ten-cents to go to the theater and enjoy a silent movie. After graduating from high school in 1933, Kogan quickly took one of the rare jobs available in a garment manufacturing company where he worked his way into being a skilled and valued fabric cutter—a job that paid $35 a week.
Aaron Mayes has been a photographer in Southern Nevada since the early 1990s starting at the Henderson Home News, then spending nine years at the Las Vegas Sun. Prior to working with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries Special Collections and Archives as the Curator of Visual Materials, Mayes photographed campus life, social events, athletics, and promotional images as part of UNLV Photo Services.
An advocate for compulsive gambling treatment, Dr. Rena Nora (1940-2008) worked for thirty years in the field of psychiatry. She held professional positions in New Jersey and Nevada, including President of both the New Jersey Psychiatric Association and the Nevada Association of Psychiatric Physicians.