Richard Rempel is the son of Dr. Jacob G. Rempel. Richard Rempel attended the University of Saskatchewan, earning an honours BA in History and Economics in 1959; he was also awarded a Rhodes Scholarship that year, and earned a BA (1961), MA (1962) and D.Phil (1967) from Oxford. From 1961-1962, he taught as an instructor in History at the University of Saskatchewan; and between 1964-1975, was on faculty with the University of South Carolina. He returned to Canada to join the department of History at McMaster in 1975, and upon his retirement from that institution in 2000, was awarded emeritus status.

Jacob G. Rempel lost both parents and an older brother during the conflict and typhus that swept Mennonite colonies in Russia in 1919. In June 1923, Jacob (b. 1903) and his brother David (b. 1899) immigrated to Canada, arriving in Rosthern, Saskatchewan in July 1923. They spoke German, some Russian, but no English; and had the equivalent of $1.25 Canadian in funds. By 1928, however, Jacob had secured a three-year scholarship to the University of Saskatchewan, from which he graduated with the Governor General's Gold Medal and high honours in Biology in 1931. He joined the Biology department that year as an instructor and earned his MSc by 1933. He took a leave of absence in 1936 to attend Cornell, earning his PhD in 1937. He remained with the University of Saskatchewan for the rest of his career, becoming a full professor by 1953 and being named Rawson Professor in 1962. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, awarded the Centennial Medal "in recognition of valuable service to the nation," and upon his retirement in 1970, was awarded emeritus status. He was particularly known for his research on mosquitoes and equine encephalitis. He died in Victoria, British Columbia in May 1976.

Charles Lightbody was born in Kansas in 1904. He obtained a BA from the University of Saskatchewan in 1924 and an MA from the University of Toronto in 1925. He was a Rhodes Scholar for Saskatchewan in 1925 and he earned a BA from Oxford in 1928. He later earned an MA from Oxford in 1936 and a PhD from Cornell University. Lightbody was an assistant professor of History at St. Lawrence University from 1930 to 1942. From 1948 to 1962, Lightbody was a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan. He spent a year at the Regina campus before taking a position at Brandon University (then Brandon College) in 1963. He was named Head of the History Department at Brandon University starting in 1964. Dr. Lightbody was a noted historian who specialized in medieval history, particularly Joan of Arc. He died in Brandon, Manitoba in January 1970.