Dr. William Wilson Hume Clay was born in Winchester, Kentucky on October 1, 1940. He graduated from Clark County High School in 1957 and graduated from Eastern Kentucky State College in the early 1960s. He then went to the University of Kentucky where he recieved his masters and doctorate degrees. He began teaching at EKU in the Social Sciences department in the fall of 1966. It was here that he met his wife, Genevieve Johnston Clay. He retired in the 1980s and died April 11, 2013.

Genevieve Johnston Clay was born in Kingsport Tennessee on February 5, 1940. She spent much of her childhood moving from town to town because of her father's career as a Presbyterian preacher. Many of Genevieve's ancestors lived and preached in South Carolina.The family eventually settled in Kentucky where she graduated from Henry Clay High School in 1958. She then attended Southwestern-at-Memphis (now Rhodes College) in 1962 with a BA in Bible. She started working in the EKU Library in the Fall of 1966. She married Dr. William Hume Clay on December 22, 1975. She retired from the EKU Library in 2002 as librarian emeritus. She died in January 17, 2022.