Carrie Townley Porter was born July 07, 1935 in Central Texas near present-day Fort Hood. Townley finished high school in Austin, Texas and attended the University of Texas in Austin for two years. She left college to get married, and she and her geologist husband lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. They had three children with no reliable child care so Townley became a housewife for a period. The Townleys lived a full and active life in Las Vegas, Nevada and Carrie Townley eventually got hired as a substitute teacher.

Joanna S. Kishner was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 27, 1964.

She and her husband were married at Temple Beth Sholom—the temple where she had her bar mitzvah and where she raises her own children in the Jewish tradition.

Judge Kishner has been recognized for her legal work throughout the years, this includes pro bono work for disadvantaged children through the Children’s Attorney Project.