Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Kouprasith Abhay
Major General Kouprasith Abhay (1926–1999?) (Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol) was the son of Kou Abhay. The Abhays were an aristocratic family of Chinese-Lao heritage from Khong Island, which is sited on the Mekong River near the Cambodian border in extreme southern Laos. Siho Lamphouthacoul, who was younger than Kouprasith, was raised as a protegé of the Abhay household. For unknown reasons, Siho resented this. Kouprasith Abhay was also related to the influential Sananikone family, since his own mother came from that family. Kouprasith would also marry into the Sananikone family.