James "Jimmy" Low was born January 24, 1930 in Hilo. Beginning in 1926, his parents, King Yong Low of Kwangtung, China, and Mary Chow Low of Hilo, ran a grocery store on Keawe Street. 'Three years later, they branched out and opened the original Sun Sun Lau Chop Sui House on Haili Street. In 1939, the restaurant relocated to Kamehameha Avenue in downtown Hilo. Low, the fourth of seven children, grew up around the restaurant. As soon.as he was old enough, he helped his parents cook in the kitchen and set up for banquets.

James Tatsumi Ohashi was born March 2, 1928 in a sugar plantation camp in Kipii-Hule'ia, Kaua'i. The seventh of eight children of Bunjiro Ohashi and Ima K.anemori Ohashi, he attended Hule'ia Grammar School and graduated from Kaua'i High School. After receiving his degree from the University of Hawai'i, Ohashi enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He rose to the rank of colonel. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War and also served in Japan before retiring in 1973. Ohashi is an avid and prolific writer and a student of local history.

The oldest of two children born to Willard Hogle Branch and Elizabeth Mason Branch, Jeanne Branch Johnston was born in Hilo on December 2, 1939. Johnston's maternal grandfather, Charles William Mason, was the inventor of Canec, a fiberboard made from sugarcane bagasse. Mason became the superintendent of Hawaiian Cane Products Company, Ltd., located in Hilo near the site of the Waiakea Mill Company. After spending her early childhood in Hilo, Honolulu, Midway Island, and California, Johnston and her mother returned to Hilo in 1944.

Josephine Nelson Todd was born November 9, 1906 in Pepe'ekeo, Hawai'i. She was the seventh of eleven children born to Hans Peter Nelson, an immigrant from Denmark, and Mary Morgado Nelson, an immigrant from Portugal. Hans Peter Nelson was an employee for Pepe'ekeo Sugar Company. When Todd was a young girl, the family moved to Hilo. She grew up in the Villa Franca section of Hilo, an area populated predominantly by Portuguese. Portuguese was Todd's flrst language.

June Mitsuko Odachi Shigemasa was born September 27, 1935 in the Shinmachi district of Hilo, Hawai'i. Her parents, Kinzaemon Odachi and Kameki Tsuno Odachi, were immigrants from Japan who came to Hawai'i as Tenri-kyo [a Buddhist sect] ministers. Shigemasa, her parents, and siblings lived in a two-story house on the temple grounds. She was attending nearby Waiakea Kai School when World War II broke out. Following the Pearl Harbor attack, Kinzaemon Odachi was arrested by the FBI and interned at Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Kapua Wall Heuer was born February 1, 1912 in Kainaliu, Kona, Hawai'i. She was the youngest child of Allen Wall and Christina Lilinoe Roy Wall. Heuer's maternal grandparents were William F. Roy, a Scotsman who arrived in Hawai'i in 1860, and Eliza Davis Roy, a native Hawaiian. Together, they took up ranching in Kona. Growing up in Waihou, an area mauka of Kainaliu town, Heuer lived the ranching lifestyle. She rode horses, and learned to rope, herd, and ship cattle. Beginning in 1918, Heuer spent most of her time in Honolulu attending Punahou School.

Kimiko Kuwana Sakai, daughter of Japanese immigrants, Hisa Muranaka Kuwana and Jitsuzo Kuwana, was born on April 26, 1916, in Pahoa, Hawai'i. She is one of eight children born to the Kuwanas. Her mother's main responsibility was running the household and caring for the children. Her father was a foreman at 'Ola'a Sugar Company plantation. Sakai graduated from Hilo High School in 1934 after completing Hilo Intermediate School and her primary grades at schools in Pahoa and 'Ola'a. After graduation, she worked as a kitchen helper at Dr. T. Kutsunai's hospital in Papa'ikou.

Laura Yuen Chock, the fourth of six children, was born July 18, 1927 in Hilo. Her father was Mun Hon Yuen, an immigrant from Canton, China. Her mother was Fannie Yen Tai Loo Yuen, a Honolulu- born Chinese American. Chock's parents owned the Hawaii Chicken Store, a poultry and herb business located on Mamo Street in downtown Hilo. Chock and her family lived in two-bedroom quarters above the store.

Lenore Kumulani Van Gieson was born June 16, 1935 in Hilo, Hawai'i. Her father, Ebenezer Coit Hobron Van Gieson, was from a Honolulu family and educated at Kamehameha Schools; her mother, Victoria Kumulani Todd Van Gieson, a Hilo native. The oldest of four siblings, VanGieson grew up on property owned by her mother's side of the family in the Keaukaha section of Hilo. This section, known as Pu'umaile by old-timers, was an area where many of Hilo's elite resided full-time or part-time in beachfront homes and cottages.

Marsue McGinnis McShane was born May 15, 1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father, Ralph McGinnis, was a professor of English and journalism at Miami University in Ohio. Her mother, Erma Kl>enig McGinnis, was a homemaker. McShane and an older brother were raised in the college town of Oxford, Ohio. She also spent part of her childhood with her grandmother in nearby Covington, Kentucky. McShane attended schools in Oxford, graduating from high school in 1941.