Roberta Sabbath was born on December 23, 1943 in Richmond, Virginia. She received her bachelor's degree in French Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1965 and married Dennis Sabbath in 1967. The couple spent two years in Chicago, Illinois before moving to Kodiak, Alaska in 1969 where she started an adult basic education program and a youth program. After about two years in Alaska, Sabbath and her husband moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Linda Wilner was born July 15, 1944 in New York. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1970 to be closer to her family after divorcing her first husband, leaving her a single mother of two children. She met her husband, Martin at a Jewish Singles event. They were married on December 22, 1974 and adopted a son, Robert. She was a real estate agent in one of the most robust housing markets in the country at the time.