David F. Aberle was an American anthropologist and author. Born in 1918 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Aberle completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Columbia University in 1947. After returning from a stint overseas during World War II, Aberle began teaching at Harvard University between 1947 and 1950. Having worked in New Mexico studying the Navajo and Hopi for two summers in 1949 and 1950, Aberle worked for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Window Rock, Arizona, where he developed an enduring interest in Navajo culture and land rights in the Southwestern United States.
Pursuing extensive field research in Arizona in the 1960s and into the 1970s and 1980s, Aberle studied Navajo kinship patterns, economic development and the Peyote religion among the Navajo. He also became an active participant in the Navajo-Hopi land dispute before the American courts in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, centred on the issues surrounding historical land occupation, removal to Reservation lands, land use and grazing rights between the Navajo and Hopi tribes in Arizona. Aberle collaborated on various exploratory reports on the subject and participated in an American Anthropological Association Ad Hoc Panel on Navajo-Hopi land claims, making recommendations to the courts and government agencies involved in the case.
From 1952 to 1960, Aberle taught in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Michigan, moving to Brandeis University in 1961 and the University of Oregon in 1963. Aberle and his wife, Kathleen Gough Aberle, also a professor at Brandeis and Oregon, left the United States in the wake of some controversy surrounding Gough's stated position regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis, which Aberle supported. Both Gough and Aberle were known to have Marxist leanings and openly challenged the U.S.'s position toward Cuba and the war in Vietnam and actively sought university postings in Canada. Moving to Vancouver, Aberle taught at UBC in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology from 1967, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1984.
The contributor to several volumes, and author of many essays and articles, in 1962, Aberle published the book Chahar and Dagor Mongol Bureaucratic Administration: 1912-1945. In 1966, Aberle published The Peyote Religion among the Navajo and in 1974, he published Lexical Reconstruction: The Case of the Proto-Athapaskan Kinship System with Isidore Dyen. The majority of Aberle's academic career was focused on his work with the Navajo in the Southwestern U.S. David Aberle died in 2004.

Darryl Adams was born on September 19, 1947 in Portsmouth, Virginia to parents Harry and Kate Adams. He was the first of five sons. In 1959, the Adams family moved to Poway California, a suburb of San Diego. Adams was a member of the first class to graduate from the newly constructed Poway High School in 1961.

Adams became interested in political activism and social justice at a young age. In particular, Adams became interested in Marxist-Leninist philosophy. While he was still in high school, Adams would attend lectures and meetings at the University of California and other political events around Poway and San Diego. After graduating from high school, Adams was enrolled at the Revelle Campus of the University of California where he studied philosophy. It was there that Adams became more heavily involved in political activism events that were being experienced throughout the United States in the mid 1960s, including the Free Speech Movement and other Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. In 1966, Adams moved to Santa Cruz with several of his high school friends, where he continued to attend anti war rallies. He would also meet with other philosophers in the area who also believed in Marxist-Leninism philosophy.

In late 1967, Adams received a draft notice from the US Government. In order to avoid being conscripted into the US Army, he and Shelia left California and came to Vancouver in March of 1968. Even in Vancouver, Adams maintained his interest in social justice and other political activism movements. He was a core member of the Vancouver American Exiles Association (VAEA), which campaigned against the America's continuing involvement in the Vietnam War, and for amnesty for Americans who came to Canada to escape the draft. In 1976, Adams received amnesty from the United States Government, although he opted to stay in Vancouver.

In addition to this and other Anti-Vietnam War movements in Canada, Adams was also interested in other movements, such as: labour rights for the working class; women's rights; rights for Indigenous people and minority groups; political movements in Latin and South America; and, communist, socialist, and Marxist-Leninist movements in Vancouver, Canada, and the United States.

Adams interest in social justice is reflect through his career as a researcher and consultant. Upon his arrival in Canada in 1969 to 1971, Adams worked as researcher for SFU Instructor John Legget, researching "blue collar consciousness" in East Vancouver. In 1971 to 1973, Adams worked at the Vancouver Public Library, where he also worked as a researcher specifically in the Historic Photographic Section of the Library. From 1975 to 1977, Adams was hired by the Legal Service Commission of BC, where he worked as a Public School Legal Education Advisor. After working a few years as a freelance writer and researcher, Adams moved into the Health Sector, where he worked as a consultant for the Coast Foundation Society from 1980-1985, and then the Canadian Mental Health Association in 1987. In all of these positions, Adams worked as an advocate for the working class and rights for minority groups. In 1999, Adams passed away in his home in Vancouver.

Jeff Adams is a six-time world champion in Wheelchair Sports. He competed for Canada at six consecutive Paralympics (1988-2008), winning three gold, four silver, and six bronze medals. He was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame in 1997.

Born in 1900 at Ridgetown, Ontario, to Dr. Del and Eunice Marr, Frances was the eldest of three siblings. Although the family was shaken by the death of her younger brother Charles at the age of three, and despite an early problem with stuttering, Frances Marr remained an optimistic person, devoted to her father and fascinated with the piano. Frances began playing the piano at an early age under the tutelage of Whitney Scherer. Later she would study with Thomas Martin at Alma College in St. Thomas. Eventually, Frances moved to Toronto to study at the Conservatory of Music under Paul Wells. Although she felt her study under Wells was unproductive, it was at this time that she had the opportunity to play her first professional accompanist engagement. At this engagement, she met her future husband, Harry Adaskin, whom she would marry in 1926. Initially, Frances would accompany her new husband and his band, the Hart House String Quartet, on their many tours throughout North America and Europe. In 1938, Harry Adaskin quit the quartet. He and Frances began to tour, with Frances' piano the sole accompaniment to Harry's violin. During this period, she would strike out on her own, appearing in the ensemble music and comedy act "The Town Tonics." In 1946 the couple and Harry's younger half-brother Gordon, whom the couple raised as a son, moved to Vancouver. Harry was offered a job with the new Music Department at The University of British Columbia. Frances was to accompany him to every class until his retirement in 1973. Interestingly, Frances Adaskin played her first solo recital at 75 and continued to play until shortly before her 90th birthday.
Frances Adaskin's accomplishments in music are many. However, she was an entertaining writer writing humorous anecdotes and stories. Many of which were published by Saturday Night Magazine in the 1940s. She also wrote her memoirs, entitled Fran's Scrapbook: A Talking Dream, in book form, which, as of 2002, remains unpublished. However, the crowning achievement of a lifetime of artistic achievement occurred in 1976 when Frances was awarded the Order of Canada. Frances Adaskin died in 2001.

Born the brother of musician Harry Adaskin, Gordon was adopted by Harry and his wife Frances at the age of five, after his father's death. Although Gordon's birth mother, Rifle, was still alive, she allowed the Adaskins to adopt Gordon, following the elder Adaskin's dying wish. Gordon moved to Vancouver in 1946 and attended University Hill Junior School. However, he would forego his final year at University Hill to attend the Vancouver Art School. Subsequently, Gordon toured Europe, paying particular attention to the museums and galleries of Italy. Returning to Canada, Adaskin went to the Alberta College of Art and taught at the University of Manitoba in the Faculty of Architecture. He remained there for over twenty-five years. His artwork was regularly exhibited at the university and in touring shows, two of which visited Vancouver, the home of his parents.
Adaskin, a visual artist, was also an interviewer and commentator on art and artists. He interviewed many of the leading Canadian artists of the mid-twentieth century, including B.C. Binning and Jack Shadbolt. In the early 1990s, Gordon moved to Gibsons, British Columbia and married Jan Busch, his second wife, in April 1997. Gordon Adaskin died in December 2001.