Ruth Annette Mills was born December 13, 1932 and was raised in Washington, D.C.. Mills and her husband, Charles Mills, lived in Georgia, Texas, and Maryland before coming to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1968. She worked as a typist for the Office of Education at one point and did volunteer work for her church, the Cub Scouts, and the League of Women Voters (LWV). Mills also worked as a clerk-typist for the Clark County School District, and eventually became a teacher through the Teacher Corps program.
In 1965, Chilean-born Mariteresa Rivera-Rogers (b. 1943) and husband Enrique Rivera set out on their adventurous leap and moved to the United States. Sponsored by an aunt living in Las Vegas, their resident visas took only three months to process—a task that would take years in today’s world she explains. Their first home was on Convention Center Drive, though they and their four children would experience several different neighborhoods over the years.
Mary Kozlowski Pichot was born on October 23, 1939 in Town of Lake, Wisconsin to parents George and Mary Kupec. She was an American environmentalist and activist and she worked to preserve various areas such as Red Rock Canyon and Tule Springs.
Flo Mlynarczyk was born in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Her parents divorced and she moved with her mother first to Loveland, Colorado and eventually to Los Angeles, California. Upon graduation from high school in 1943, Mlynarczyk moved to Kodiak, Alaska, to live with friends.
Sam Boyd and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1941 and he began working as a card dealer. He moved up to a pit boss and then to a shift boss and saved enough money to buy a small interest in the Sahara Hotel and Casino. He became general manager and partner at the Mint Hotel and Casino where he developed a number of marketing, gaming, and entertainment innovations.