What people, besides your parents, were part of shaping who you are? Why?

My neighbor when I was growing up. Had this huge rock collection. Some really giant stuff. He worked in a Smelter that was operating in Tacoma so he would bring home stuff every day. Various ores they were processing. Taught me a lot about geology. And about humanity. He had a number tattooed on his left arm. I'd asked about it several times and he would avoid talking about it. I was young. One day When I was about 13 or 12 he was out beating the crap out of a big rock to split it open with his shirt off. Covered in scars. Big slices. Holes. I asked him if he'd been in some kind of accident. He smiled and laughed a little. Said Yes it was a terrible accident. Told me the real truth that day. He was a prisoner at one of the concentration camps. Forced to work on weapons production until he was too skinny and sick to be productive. They sent him from there to a death camp in Poland. As the Russian army was approaching the guards shot most the prisoners. He was shot twice and left for dead. He told me he laid there for 2 days in a pile of bodies until the Russians arrived. A Russian Soldier heard him wheezing and brought a medic over to him.