Alfred Cook "Al" Payne, son of Earnest Silas Payne and Minnie Othello Donahoe, was born in Cartersville, Georgia, on February 21, 1916. After graduating from Cartersville High School, he obatined a BS in general science at Clemson University in 1938.

Following graduation, Payne accepted a position as assistant secretary of the YMCA at Texas A. & M. University. In 1941, he married Virginia Virle Crow (1917-2014); the couple would have two daughters.

During World War II, Payne served as a captain of infantry in the European Theatre of Operations and participated in the liberation of Paris, earning five battle stars and the Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster.

Following his military service, Payne attended Yale University Divinity School, receiving a bachelor's of divinity in religion and higher education in 1946. That same year, he was named associate secretary of the YMCA at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) and was ordained at Blacksburg Baptist Church the following year.

In 1949, Payne accepted a position with the YMCA at the University of Pittsburgh, and from 1951 to 1953, he took postgraduate courses in philosophy at the university. Payne returned to Virginia Tech in 1958, succeeding Paul Derring as secretary of the YMCA. He was appointed assistant to the dean of students in 1964 and later as counselor for relgious affairs. Among his duties during this time, Payne was responsible for supervision of the Memorial Chapel, coordination of campus religious programs, and serving as a liaison with off-campus churches and clergy.

A popular public speaker, Payne was frequently called upon for invocations, benedictions and blessings, as well as remarks at campus and local events. He formally retired from the university in 1981 but continued to be very active on campus and in various community and civic organizations. In 1987, he published a collection of his campus prayers in , followed by in 1993. He also wrote a number of essays for various publications and hundreds of published book reviews. In 1993, Virginia Tech recognized his service by naming Payne Hall in his honor.

Alfred C. Payne died in Blacksburg in 2003.

Virginia Virle Crow, daughter of Edward E. Crow and Emmie Johnson, was born in Fairforest, South Carolina, on April 2, 1917. Best known by her middle name, Crow graduated from Fairforest High School. She earned a BS degree at Winthrop College in 1938, and took graduate courses at the University of Tennessee in 1939. Later that year, she joined the faculty of Anderson College (Anderson, South Carolina) as director of the home economics department. Evidence in this collection suggests that Cook continued to work at Anderson through 1941, the year she married Alfred C. Payne. The couple would have two children.

In 1960, Virle Payne accepted a position at Virginia Tech as an instructor in clothing, textiles and related art, and she earned an MS at Virginia Tech in 1962. She continued to work at Virginia Tech until 1967, when she joined the faculty at Radford College (now Radford University), where she served as assistant director of home economics and directed the preschool before retiring in the 1980s.

Virle Payne died in Blacksburg, Virginia, on January 22, 2014.