Deanne Alterwitz-Stralser (née Friedman) was born January 1, 1931 in Hammond, Indiana, the daughter of an insurance salesman and a stay-at-home mom. Alterwitz-Stralser spent her childhood in Calumet City, just across the state line in Illinois, and was raised with a strong Jewish identity. At the age of sixteen, she met her husband, Oscar Alterwitz, at an Alpha Zadik Alpha (AZA) dance in Gary, Indiana, and the two were married in 1950.

Steven Eisen (1966 - ) is the oldest son of Barry and Beverly Eisen, who were part of the migration of Jews from St. Louis to Las Vegas in the 1960s. He is married to Stacy Fisher and the older brother to Andrew and Robert Eisen. They are members of an early group of born-and-raised Las Vegans. Growing up Jewish, he became a bar mitzvah, belonged to B’nai B’rith Youth Organization.

Stanley W. Paher is a Nevada historian, author, and publisher. He was born in 1940 in Las Vegas. He was raised in Las Vegas and attended Las Vegas High School in 1954. Throughout his young adulthood, he was interested in mining camps and ghost towns and would visit the ones in the surrounding area. After graduation from high school, he joined the Navy and spent two years in the reserves.