Penelope "Pennie" Ruchman is a long-time gaming and casino professional who graduated from in 1977 from Oberlin College's Creative Writing and American Literature honors program. Following graduation, Ruchman moved to New York City, New York to work as a photographer where she apprenticed for Irving Penn and Arnold Newman before embarking on a career of creating her own artwork, holding one-woman exhibitions throughout the country.
Rabbi Bradley Tecktiel was born June 28, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois.
He moved to New York City, New York to attend university, where he received two Bachelor of Arts degrees: one from List College and one from Columbia University. He went on to achieve a Master’s degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Lawrence Canarelli was born in Roseburg, Oregon shortly after World War II. His family had no money and lived in a tent on the Umpqua River, foraging and living day-to-day. After their tent and everything they owned burned down, Canarelli’s family moved to various logging camps through Oregon and California. His father quit his job and unexpectedly left the family, leaving the 21-year old mother no choice but to put Canarelli and his three siblings in a Pentecostal orphanage.
Joseph Theodor LaVoie was a police officer and civic activist in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born in St. Boniface, Canada on March 28, 1916. Around 1920, the family moved to Los Angeles, California. In 1939, LaVoie moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, and began work at the Rheem Manufacturing Company in Henderson. In 1946, LaVoie joined the City of Las Vegas Police Department as a motorcycle officer where he worked as a police officer for twenty years, retiring as a sergeant in 1966.