Diane Guinn was a State of Nevada Division of State Welfare and Supportive Services worker who worked assisted Ruby Duncan in developing Operation Life in 1972, a nonprofit organization that promoted welfare reform in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was born on April 5, 1949 in Seattle, Washington, and later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1952. Her mother, Louise Canon, was a cashier in restaurants and a manager in dress stores, while her father, Doug Canon, was a bartender. Guinn married Frank Guinn, an electrical foreman, on 1972 in Las Vegas.

Virginia Joyce Mooney was a dancer who performed in the Sands Hotel and Casino and the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. She changed her name to Virginia James when she began performing at the Sands.