Jeremiah David Wright Hoggard was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on November 25, 1914. As a child, his parents would take him to National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) meetings, and he joined the organization before serving in the United States Air Force during World War II. In 1945, he was transferred to Nellis Air Force Base. By the next year, Hoggard moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with his two sons after being recently widowed.
Hal de Becker spent his early life in Southern California, where he was a child actor with small roles. While in California, he fell in love first with classical music and then with ballet. He danced in shows around the world including Switzerland, France, Palm Springs, Italy, Holland.
De Becker worked on stages from Lake Tahoe, California where he opened for Nat King Cole to Casino Campione in the Italian Alps, to the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. De Becker also opened his own dance studio.
Dorothy Jeaan Grier (née Whitcomb) was born October 4, 1922 in Hayden, Indiana. Dorothy married Herbert E. Grier on September 5, 1954. Herbert had two children from a previous relationship, Joan Arnold and Herbert Grier III. Together they had their son David L. Grier.
Grier has a bachelor of arts degree in English and philosophy.
During World War II, Grier was a secretary for the Air Inspector at the United States Air Force.
Elaine Cali McNamara was born in Detroit, Michigan. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1953 at the age of 16. She modeled for the Bernie Lenz agency and for local shops and tearooms from the 1950s to 1980s. McNamara started her real estate career in 1982. She became a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS). She was trustee of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District from 1981 to 1991 and chair from 1990-1991. As of 2016, McNamara continues to work as a real estate agent and CRS in the Las Vegas Valley.
Jerry Eppenger was born in 1945 and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1953. His father worked at the Nevada Test Site and his mother owned her own restaurant. The family lived on Las Vegas' Westside, where he often hung out at Smokey's Pool Hall.
Daughter of Nevada Senator Joseph M. Foley and Betty (Bradshaw) Foley; Helen is the niece to Roger D. Foley, Thomas Foley, George Foley, and John Patrick Foley, and the granddaughter of Roger Thomas Foley and Helen (Drummond) Foley. She has served in both houses of the Nevada Legislature and now co-owns a Public Relations firm.
Bernice Eisenberg has been a Las Vegas resident since 1955 and was a part of the formation of Midbar Kodesh Temple. Eisenberg was a teacher and has taught at many Las Vegas schools. She met her husband, Ivan, at the Jewish Community Centers’ social club for young adults and married him in 1956. During the mid 1990s Las Vegas was a growing and Temple Beth Sholom was the only synagogue and Eisenberg worked to help form Midbar Kodesh Temple to serve the growing Henderson community. Bernice has two children.
Barbara Kirsh was born in 1957 and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was involved in the Jewish community, attending Hebrew School and teaching at the United Synagogue Youth as a teenager. Kirsch went to college in Colorado and Boston and after her education moved back to Las Vegas to get involved with the family business, Ideal Office Equipment. When she moved back to Las Vegas she got involved with the Jewish Federation and was in the Young Leadership group. She has been an active member of Midbar Kodesh since its founding.
Kent Carmichael, lighting engineer and artist, is responsible for many of the most iconic signs in Las Vegas history. Kent Carmichael was born in December 1933 in Burbank, California, drafted for Korean War as a football player for the U.S. Navy, and served overseas in Korea. After being discharged in 1956 in Long Beach he began working for Interstate Neon for Max and Mo Oggenblick.
Lyn Robinson was born January 16, 1978 in Florida. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999 and became a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). She was an art major with a concentration on photography. Robinson also had a deep appreciation of the horror of the Holocaust and what the survivors she would take photos of had endured. This began a two year project, during which she took photos of over sixty survivors. Robinson’s images were displayed at the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center.