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Kwon, Myoung-ja Lee
Myoung-ja Lee Kwon was born in 1943 on the grounds of the Kyongbok Palace in Korea. Her father’s occupation as a university professor which gave the family a higher status and allowed them to live in a state of prosperity. But war changed these circumstances. In 1965, after graduating from Seoul National University, Kwon got married and moved to the United States of America, where a year later she earned a Master’s degree in Library Science from Provo, Utah.
Person
Semenoff, Sasha
Sasha Semenoff (1924-2013) was born Abram Shapiro in Riga, Latvia. Sasha played the piano at age 6 and got his first violin at age 9. In a 2009 Las Vegas Sun interview, Sasha told the story that while being transported to a concentration camp a German Nazi soldier saw him holding a mandolin and instructed him to play “La Paloma.” To his great fortune, he was able to do so and always felt that that moment saved his life.
Person
Armstrong, Stan
Stan Armstrong is an African American and Choctaw filmmaker and founder of Desert Rose Productions. Armstrong was born in 1954 in San Francisco, California and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with his parents in 1955. Armstrong attended Rancho High School and the race riots of the 1970s which he created a documentary titled, The Rancho High School Race Riots. Armstrong graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1995 with a degree in Communications and Film History.
Person
Poster, Jay
Jay Poster was born October 16, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in San Diego, California.
Music brought Jay Poster to Las Vegas for a brief time in 1974. Jay wanted to pursue a musical career and his cousin was a professional musician with the Nat Brandwynne Orchestra at Caesars Palace. Poster left Las Vegas to return home to San Diego and his studies at San Diego State University. It would be over a decade later before Jay returned to Las Vegas to live and this time it became permanent.
Person
Herst, Charlene
Charlene, née Friedkin, Herst was born in 1946. When she was eight years old, she moved to Las Vegas in 1954 with her parents Patricia and Richard Friedkin.
Charlene raised four children (Hayley, Rochelle, Tracey and Harry) as a single mother, graduated from UNLV in 1995 with a communications degree, and managed to build a career that touched the well-being of the Nevada population in many ways.
Person
Jones, Clifford Aaron, Sr., 1912-2001
Nevada Lieutenant Governor Clifford "Cliff" Jones was born in Long Lane, Missouri in 1912. While he was attending the University of Missouri in 1931, his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. During summer breaks from college Jones worked alongside his brother, Herbert, on the construction of the Boulder (Hoover) Dam. Jones moved to Las Vegas in 1937 after he became an attorney.
Person
Houghton, Fred B., 1894-1977
Fred Houghton was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 27, 1894. Houghton attended the University of Chicago Law School, and passed the Illinois State Bar examination at the age of 25. He received his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1919. The next year, Houghton opened his own law practice and maintained the law firm until 1943, when he moved to California.
Person