Gertrude Rudiak was born August 2, 1915 in North Dakota to Russian immigrants. She grew up in Wisconsin until 1924. That year, her family drove to California via the Yellowstone Trail. Her father had a chiropractic practice in Los Angeles, California. After Rudiak earned a music degree at the University of California at Berkeley, she attended a business college, and she got a job as a social worker in northern California.

George Rudiak (1915 – 1995) was born in Moscow, Russia. At the age of five, George emigrated with his Jewish parents to the United States in 1920. He was raised in Los Angeles, California and received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1942.

1942 was the same year the draft into armed services dogged him. Rather than be drafted, he chose to enlist in the US Army Corps. The same year he married the energetic Gertrude (née Rightman) Rudiak.