Helen (Collins) Morelli was born in 1905 the oldest of nine children born to Elizabeth McCann and James P. Collins. Her father was an New York Police Department officer and suffered a heart attack, which widowed her mother. Helen helped her mother raise her siblings as both her mother and her uncle (who moved in after her father's death) worked outside of the home to support the family.

Born as one of four children in Manila, Philippines, Minddie and her siblings were raised by their paternal grandmother and her sisters (the Three Lolas) in the Philippines when her parents took jobs in New Jersey. After the children joined their parents, the family moved to California, where Minddie suffered abuse and subsequently lived in several foster homes and a girls' home, Olive Crest. It was through Olive Crest that Minddie met her mentors, Bruce Layne, Roy Woofter, and Thalia Dondero and came to Las Vegas in 1995, where she worked with the airlines.