Ruth Pearson Urban was born in 1948 in Los Angeles, California. At the age of ten, she moved to Las Vegas with her mother and older sister. Urban spent most of her childhood in the Huntridge area and was always heavily involved with Temple Beth Sholom. After graduating from Las Vegas High School, Urban attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she received a bachelor’s degree in social work, and later, a master’s degree in counseling.
Teacher, librarian, and writer Clarabelle H. Decker was born Clarabelle Douglas in Bellevue, Colorado on November 03, 1900. She and her family moved to Oatman, Arizona, where Decker attended Northern Arizona State Teachers College (now Northern Arizona University) and received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She later earned a Master of Arts degree in English and School Supervision from the University of Washington, and a degree in library sciences from the University of Southern California.