Author, speaker, and Holocaust survivor Stephen Nasser was born in 1931 in Hungary. As a child he was known as Pista, which translates to Stephen in English. He and his family were forced into a ghetto in 1943. They were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau shortly after, where Nasser witnessed the murder of several relatives. He was liberated from a death train on April 30, 1945 by General Patton’s Third Army.

Ruth D'Hondt was born and reared in Las Vegas, Nevada, living on Jackson Street where her family owned Mattie's Cafe. The restaurant provided not just great food but employment for D’hondt and her five brothers and sisters. In 1959, the family moved to Berkley Square.

Joseph George, was born, raised, and educated through high school in Sudlersville, Maryland. He describes his college career at the University of Pennsylvania and earning his MD degree at University of Maryland in Baltimore. There were only 15 students in his high school class and 114 in his medical class.

Joan Massagli was born January 26, 1938 and spent her childhood in Tacoma, Washington singing three-part harmony—a member of a musically talented family that included five children as well as an aunt and uncle who raised all the kids to enjoy music. By high school in the early 1950s, she and her two older sisters were regulars on a local TV show.

Mary McCoy was born March 03, 1948 in Lancaster, New York. Her family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada on December 26, 1959. After graduating from Basic High School, McCoy immediately enrolled at Nevada Southern University, which was in the midst of growing into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). During the summer of 1967, she worked at the university's library moving books into the expanded facility. Though she altered her studies program from education to English, she continued to work at the library and continued the job after graduation.