Benny Andrews is a painter who was born in Madison, Georgia, on November 13, 1930. He was one of 10 children. He attended Fort Valley State College from 1948 to 1950 and received his art training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1954 to 1958, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He has held teaching positions at several colleges and has been the Director of the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts Foundation.

Bertha Mae Davis Howard-Bray was a hairdresser and lifelong educator born in Montgomery, Alabama, to Isiah and Pearlie Rogeres Davis on July 25, 1925. She graduated from Besteda's Beauty School in Mobile, Alabama, then earned a BS degree in Cosmetology from Southern Beauty Congress and another BS from the University of Georgia in Education. On March 12, 1947, she was married to Prince ALbert Howard, Jr. until his death on March 12, 1962, and had eight children with him: Barkley Howard, Princella Howard Dixon, Barbara Howard, Col. Rubye Braye, Wilhemina Howard Harris, Wanda Howard Battle, Levetia Howard, and Felise Howard Haley. In 1968 Howard-Bray moved from Montgomery to Atlanta in 1968 and worked as an instructor at Atlanta Area Technical School for 25 years, as a commentator for the Annual Bronner Brothers Beauty Trade Show, and served in the Atlanta chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, the Georgia Association of Educators, and Shaw Temple AMEZ Church. In addition to teaching, Howard Bray supported her family with direct sales programs: Mary Kay, Symbra Ette, and World Book Encyclopedia.

Howard-Bray married Clyde Bray in 1995 and died on October 12, 2004.