Alexander Abbey Piper was born May 11, 1899 in Lenoir City, Loudon County, Tennessee. Piper married Ruby Lenore Piper (1917-2010). He died January 14, 1988 in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina.

John Cunyus Hodges was born on March 15, 1892 to Floyd Crawford and Addie Reynolds Hodges in Cotton Valley, Louisiana. He was educated first at Meridian College, where he graduated with his AB in 1911. He went on to earn an MA from Tulane University (1912), a PhD from Harvard (1918) and an honorary Litt.D from Tennessee Wesleyan College (1962). Hodges launched his teaching career at Northwestern University, where he taught from 1913 to 1916. He began teaching English at the University of Tennessee in 1918, and he remained in this position until he was promoted to department chairman in 1937, where he served until 1962. Beginning in 1959, he was also involved in the Library Development Program. Hodges also wrote a number of books including Harbrace Handbook of Reading (1943). Hodges married twice: once to Lillian Nelson (January 24, 1914) and once to Cornelia Smartt Hendley (August 15, 1952). He died in 1967.