Elgin P. Kintner, M.D. was born on September 5, 1917 in North Manchester, Indiana to Edward and Gladys Kintner. He graduated from Manchester College and the Indiana University School of Medicine, and in 1951 he moved to Maryville, Tennessee to become the first full-time pathologist at Blount Memorial Hospital in 1952. Kintner married Ethel Pritchett and together they had four children: Rebecca (King), Richard, Johanna (Bryant), and Ella (Brown).

In addition to his jobs as a physician and a pathologist and his passions for hiking and photography, Kintner was very active in his community, participating in the Kiwanis Club and New Providence Presbyterian Church, founding the local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and serving as the first registered male Girl Scout leader in the United States. He also published 38 articles in scientific journals and was awarded the Silver Billings Medal for private research by the American Medical Society. His interest in genealogy led to several publications, including Blount County Remembered and Events in the Life of Elgin Perry Kintner. Because of his meritorious service to the citizens of Tennessee, the Tennessee legislature passed a resolution to honor him in 2006. Elgin Kintner died on May 25, 2008.

Margaret Stevenson was born Margaret Elizabeth Roys on July 17, 1912 in Kuling, China to Harvey C. and Grace (Woodbridge) Roys. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oklahoma in 1934 and quit graduate school to marry William Robert Stevenson in 1936. They had three children, Judy (Hogan), Margie (Ribble), and Bill, Jr. After she and her husband retired to Tennessee, she took her first hike with Elgin Kintner on October 13, 1973. Over the years, she hiked to the top of Mt. Le Conte 718 times, became the first woman to hike every trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and led countless groups and individuals on various hikes. Margaret Stevenson died on October 5, 2006.