The seventh of thirteen children, Alexander M. Riviera was born in Hakalau, Hawai'i on August 9, 1931. His father was John Fernando Rivera, who immigrated from Puerto Rico in 1901, and Mary Dejesus Rivera, who was of Spanish descent and born in Hawai'i. [Note: Alexander changed the spelling of his last name.] Like many laborers, Riviera's father took on contracts at various sugar plantations on the Big Island. Riviera and his siblings spent their childhoods living in sugar plantation camps at Hakalau, Kukuihaele, Papa'aloa, and Papa'ikou.

Bunji Fujimoto, the sixth of ten children, was born March 22, 1930 in N"mole, Hawai'i. His parents, Saiji Fujimoto and Ei Sorakubo Fujimoto, were immigrants from Hiroshima, Japan. Saiji Fujimoto was a laborer and independent sugarcane grower for Wailea Milling Company which later (1944) merged with Hakalau Plantation Company. As a youth, Fujimoto helped his father in the sugarcane fields. His chores at home included cutting grass for livestock, feeding livestock and poultry, and tending the family garden.

Catherine Diama Campainha was born to Visayan immigrants, Catalina Buscas Diama and Agapito Diama, in Hilo, Hawai'i on March 28, 1938. She has five brothers and four sisters. Her father owned and operated Mamo Pool Hall, a billiard parlor located below their living quarters, and rented out rooms to bachelors in a boardinghouse. Her mother leased and ran the Ideal Meat Market until the mid-1940s. The Diama home on Mamo Street was a gathering place.

David Kurohara has been fishing since he was twelve years old. He is an active mullet fisher in Wailoa State Park in Hilo, Hawaii. In 2017, he joined the Hawai‘i Island Leadership Council. He has worked for Hawaii Electric for twenty years and serves as the company’s Business and Community Consultant. David is a respected community leader and volunteer who donates his time to many services and non-profit boards.

The middle of three children born to Randolph Ahuna, Sr. and Adeline .Kame'ekua Ahuna, Eloise Ahuna Pung was born in Kukuiopa'e, South Kona, Hawai'i on December 16, 1933. Her paternal grandfather, Loo Ahuna, had a farm where he grew coffee and raised poultry and livestock.

Evelyn Lyn Miyazaki Kagawa, nisei, was born June 22, 1922 in Tacoma, Washington. Her parents, Carl Shintaro Miyazaki and Matsuko Matsukawa Miyazaki immigrated to America from Kumamoto and Ehime prefectures, respectively. Kagawa, the second of four children, was raised and educated in Tacoma, graduating from Stadium High School. She was attending the College of Puget Sound when World War II broke out. Carl Miyazaki, a leader in the local Japanese community, was picked up by the FBI and interned as an enemy alien at Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Fusae Tanaka Takaki was born May 28, 1923 in Hilo. She was the youngest of four children born to Eijiro Tanaka and Kura Hano Tanaka, both immigrants from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Eijiro Tanaka worked as a stone crusher, stevedore, and merchant marine. Her mother sold lunches and snacks from her car near Coconut Island and the Hilo wharf area. Takaki was raised in the Shinmachi district of Hilo, home to a large portion of Hilo's Japanese population.

Harold P. Luscomb was born April 27, 1926 in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. His Hilo-bom father, Harold P. Luscomb, Sr., had moved to Pennsylvania to work for Westinghouse Electric Company and to work toward a degree in electrical engineering. There he met his wife, Helen Jones Luscomb. Harold Jr., the couple's only child, was raised at the home of his maternal grandparents in Pittsburgh. At the age of ten, Harold, his father, and mother moved to Hilo, where his father was employed by Hilo Electric Light Company.

Hayato Okino was born August 18, 1912, in the Waiakea Town section of Hilo. He was the fourth of five children of Shimakichi Okino and Tsune Hamasaki Okino, who both immigrated to Hawai'i from Japan in 1901. Okino attended Wa.iakea Kai, Hilo Junior High, and Hilo High schools, graduating in 1932. His first job after graduation was an auto parts salesman for Ruddle Sales and Service in Hilo. Twenty-three years later, in 1955, he started his own auto parts business, Automotive Supply Center. The building was complete destroyed in the 1960 tsunami.

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.