John Francis Cahlan, a native Nevadan, worked as the editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He also worked to support education and preserve Nevada history, advocating for the establishment of the Nevada State Archives. He was born in Reno, Nevada in 1902, and attended the University of Nevada, earning a degree in journalism in 1926, and worked for the Nevada State Journal.
Ella Calista Carruth (née Earl) was born on June 19, 1901 in Bunkerville, Nevada. She was the granddaughter of Edward Bunker Sr., a Mormon settler who founded the town of Bunkerville in 1877. Carruth was also related through marriage to Zilpha Earl (née Fuller), who was purported to be the first non-indigenous person born in the Las Vegas Valley. Zilpha Earl was born at the Old Mormon Fort in present-day Las Vegas in 1856.