Dr. Joseph Fry was born West Virginia on May 21, 1947. He was the only child of an insurance salesman and a public school teacher. His parents met in Ronceverte, West Virginia, and lived for a while in his grandmother's boarding house. He had an idyllic childhood in this small town of 2500 people. After graduation, he was interested in playing college basketball and ended up at Davis and Elkins College in east central West Virginia.
Bonnie (Henley) Gragson was born February 8, 1913, in Mansfield, Arkansas, to James H. Henley and Elizabeth L. Cockrall Henley. She attended school in Mansfield, and married to Oran K. Gragson on December 21, 1934. The couple arrived in Nevada Christmas morning of that year, where Oran was employed in the construction of Hoover Dam. Except for brief periods in the 1930's when Oran was employed in highway construction in nearby Nevada cities, they lived in Las Vegas for more than 70 years.
Oral history interview with Reika Sun conducted by Kristel Peralta on June 21, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Reika Sun discusses her childhood in Shanghai, China during the "one-child policy" and her upbringing by nannies while her parents worked. She shares how her family immmigrated to Las Vegas in 2009 to reunite with Reika's aunt and how Reika moved to Kansas to attend an English as a Second Language (ESL) program at Kansas State University. Reika also talks about her restaurant employment history after returning to Las Vegas, her membership in the Culinary Workers Union, and Chinese traditions and superstitions she grew up learning.