Mary Helen Ainsworth (also known as Mary Helen Rowley and Mary Helen Anderson) was born on November 5, 1924 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1940s and obtained a bachelor's degree in nursing. Mary Helen had two children with her husband Louis Ainsworth. She worked in the local Las Vegas hospitals as a rehabilitation nurse. In 1978, she donated the Ainsworth Collection to University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), a collection of early Las Vegas memorabilia. Mary Helen passed away on March 18, 2014.