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.
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Dee Hicks was born in Damascus, Arkansas in 1946. She was the tenth of 13 children born to Guy and Augusta Goff. Her father was a Baptist preacher and carpenter by trade, and her mother was a housewife. Hick’s decision to become a nurse became a focal point in her life in the tenth grade. She joined the Future Nurses’ Club and geared her high school classes toward nursing. Later, Hicks went to Oklahoma Baptist University and graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing.
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Irwin Kishner was born in 1933 in Brighton Beach, New York and lived there until he was 13 years old, when the family relocated to Miami, Florida. Irwin graduated from high school and went on to earn his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 1954 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1958.
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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.
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For Kelly Benavidez (b. 1976), life began in the northern California community of Daly City in a Spanish-speaking household. Her parents, Amelia and Genaro Benavidez, were among the few Latinos in their area at the time. Her parents felt strongly about immersing Kelly and her older brother in their Mexican culture. They made the important decision to return to Jalisco, Mexico with their young children.
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Steve Casey is the oldest of three children born to Peggy and Walt Casey. Born in Portland, Oregon, Steve arrived in Las Vegas in 1951 as a three-year-old via Glendora, California. His childhood memories are of small-town Las Vegas. He grew up near Tropicana Avenue and Eastern Avenue in a house his parents built by hand. The Casey family lived beyond municipal roads, so Steve worked his newspaper route by horse and occasionally rode his horse to Paradise Elementary School.
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