Jack Leavitt was a land surveyor, engineer, and real estate developer in Southern Nevada who worked mainly in Las Vegas, Nevada. Leavitt was born on March 9, 1924 in Bunkerville, Nevada to Mike and Estella Leavitt. Leavitt graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1942 and attended the Heald Engineering College in San Francisco, California. After leaving college, Leavitt acquired work from an engineering firm in Nevada, but later quit to work for the Pioneer Title Insurance and Trust Company in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was employed for ten years.

Essie Shelton Jacobs (Essie Jean Shelton) was born in Fordyce, Arkansas on July, 11, 1925. Jacobs arrived in Las Vegas 1963 and worked in housekeeping at Aladdin Hotel for twenty-three years. Active in the Culinary Union, she worked as a supervisor and shop steward.