Gilbert Shaw, better known as Gil, was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles, California, where he had his bar mitzvah. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the US Navy and became a combat correspondent. The next twenty-seven years was a military career in both the Navy and Coast Guard and included service in both Korea and Vietnam. His training as a journalist and photographer gave him a trained eye on the history around him. This gave him a keen eye on his experiences as a founding member of Las Vegas' first Reform Judaism synagogue, Congregation Ner Tamid.
Danny Cassella was a Las Vegas, Nevada big band performer and orchestra leader from the 1940s to the 1960s. Cassella grew up in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, where he studied violin and drums. It was shortly after he graduated from Newcastle High School that a traveling musical show gave him the opportunity to fulfill his dreams. After gaining experience with the traveling production, Cassella's musical ability was noticed by a number of orchestras. He decided to go to Hollywood. He appeared in the 1933 movie Flying Down to Rio with Fred Astaire.
Rejoyce Williams was born April 26, 1905 in Fordyce, Arkansas. She left Fordyce when she was 17 for Oceanside, California, with her husband and their two children. The family then moved to Saginaw, Michigan, and eventually had nine children, six of whom survived. In 1960, the Williams family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada for two reasons: their youngest daughter, who suffered from asthma, needed to live in a dry climate and Williams’ mother-in-law lived in Las Vegas.
Reva Giles grew up in the little town of New Carlisle, Indiana and was one of twelve children. Her mother stayed home with the children while her father worked for Studebaker, a large automobile manufacturer. Right after high school, Giles moved to Redland, California, to live with a sister, working first at an ice cream shop and then a bank.
Irene Bustamante Adams believes in the reinvention of oneself as the path to the future. And since coming to Nevada in 1990 she has proven that anything is possible.
She was born and raised in rural California where she worked the fields alongside her family members growing up. Her mother is a native of New Mexico, with family that dates back six generations; her father was born in Mexico.
Journalist and photographer Sherwin "Scoop" Garside was born in Tonopah, Nevada in 1915. He was the son of Frank Garside, an owner of many newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review, which became the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 1929. Sherwin Garside moved to Las Vegas, Nevada when his father purchased the Las Vegas Review in 1926. Garside graduated from Las Vegas High School, where he earned the nickname "Scoop" writing for the school newspaper, The Desert Breeze.
“I identify with being part of the AAPI community, and our family has adopted Las Vegas as our town, again doing what we can to make impact because we feel that this town has really blessed us with so much opportunity. It’s our joy to be able to give back.”