Gregorio "Gregory" Luna
(17 November 1932 – 6 November 1999) was a San Antonio, Texas politician who served as a Democrat in both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate for the 14 years from 1985 to 1999. While in the legislature, Luna was considered to be a "champion of education". He was also one of the founders of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and served four terms as board chair.
Elmer Kelton (April 29, 1926 – August 22, 2009) was an American author, known for his Westerns. He was born in Andrews County, Texas.
He graduated from the University of Texas in 1948. Kelton worked as the farm and ranch editor of the San Angelo Standard-Times from 1948 to 1963. He served as the associate editor of Livestock Weekly from 1968 to 1990. Kelton's memoir, Sandhills Boy, was published in 2007.
Kelton's novels have won seven Spur Awards, from the Western Writers of America, and three Western Heritage Awards, from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. He also received a Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement.
Esteban Edward Torres (January 27, 1930 – January 25, 2022) was an American politician who served as member of the United States House of Representatives for California's 34th congressional district from 1983 to 1999.
Charles Stewart (May 21, 1927 – January 20, 2017) was an American photographer best known for his portraits of jazz singers and musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis, as well as artists in the R&B and salsa genres. Stewart's photographs have graced more than 2,000 album covers.
Richard Foote Pedersen (February 21, 1925 – July 11, 2011) was an American diplomat who was a career Foreign Service Officer in the United States State Department and President of the American University in Cairo.
Henry Falcon Cuesta, Sr. (December 23, 1931 – December 17, 2003), was an American woodwind musician who was a cast member of The Lawrence Welk Show. His primary instrument was the clarinet, but he also played saxophone.
At an early age, Cuesta began studying classical violin and then switched to woodwinds. He proved himself gifted and was selected to play while he was still in high school with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Before being drafted into the United States Army in 1952, he graduated from Del Mar College, a community college in Corpus Christi, at which he majored in music. In the Army Special Services, he was involved in entertaining troops in Europe and England, which included a "Tribute to Gershwin" concert with the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra in Germany.
After his Army duty, Cuesta toured the United States and Canada and developed his own highly personal style. While living in Toronto, Cuesta and his group became popular for visiting musicians, including Benny Goodman on one occasion. He later toured in the working band of the legendary trombonist, Jack Teagarden. Bobby Hackett advised him to get in touch with Lawrence Welk, and after listening to his recordings, Welk hired him immediately.
Cuesta made countless personal appearances performing and conducting in jazz festivals, state and county fairs, conventions, supper clubs, and symphony pops concerts. He appeared as a soloist with Jack Teagarden, Bob Crosby, Mel Tormé, in a Bobby Vinton television special, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and ten years on The Lawrence Welk Show. He also made several appearances to the Colorado Springs Invitational Jazz Party in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and performed with numerous international jazz musicians.
Cuesta died the age of seventy-one at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, after a bout with cancer.
His only son, Henry, Jr., was shot and killed in a robbery at the age of seventeen while he was working in 1987 at a movie theater on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, California.
Edward Terrance Kazak (July 18, 1920 – December 15, 1999) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1948 to 1952, most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.
After suffering serious injuries during World War II, Kazak recovered to become a Major League Baseball player where, he played in the 1949 All-Star Game as a 28-year-old rookie. Injuries prematurely ended his playing career after just five seasons. He played his final season with the Cincinnati Reds.
Lloyd Albert Moore (June 10, 1912 – December 10, 1987) was an American Major League Baseball player who was a right-handed pitcher from 1936 to 1942. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. He stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 195 pounds (88 kg).
Michael Dan Dejan (January 13, 1915 – February 2, 1953) was a professional baseball player. He was an outfielder and pinch hitter for one season (1940) with the Cincinnati Reds. For his career, he compiled a .188 batting average in 16 at-bats, with two runs batted in.
Dale H. Maple (September 10, 1920 – May 28, 2001) was a private in the United States Army in World War II who helped two German prisoners of war (POWs) escape in 1943. The POWs were recaptured, and Maple was court-martialed for aiding the enemy and sentenced to death by hanging. He was the first American soldier ever convicted of a crime equivalent to treason. However, his sentence was first commuted to life imprisonment, then to ten years. Maple was released from prison in October 1950.