Born April 1, 1940, in Virginia, Illinois, Howard McKibben lived at The Baby Fold orphanage in Normal, Illinois, until 1942, when he and his sister, Marian, were adopted by James and Bernice McKibben. Judge McKibben’s father was superintendent of schools, and his mother was an English and Latin teacher. Throughout his oral history, Judge McKibben expresses his gratitude to his adoptive parents for the love and values that inform his life and career, and adoption remains an important advocacy issue for him.

Elmer Millard “Al” Gunderson was born August 9, 1929 on the proverbial “wrong side of the tracks” in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A life story of never knowing an invalid father— in his own words, having met his father perhaps four times while growing up—and feeling as if he were at times an “orphan” are evident in the man he became.

The life of Harry Eugene Claiborne had many chapters, from rural McRae, Arkansas to the neon lights of Las Vegas, Nevada. From his years as a rural farm boy who started a rabbit business at ten to a federal judgeship, imprisonment, and impeachment for tax evasion by the U. S. Senate, his was a varied life that eventually put him in the crosshairs of a federal Strike Force investigating and prosecuting organized crime.

Milton B. Badt, Associate Justice of the Nevada State Supreme Court, was a member of a pioneer Nevada family. His father, Morris Badt, was one of the state’s early merchants, arriving in Elko County in 1868.