Myra Berkovits (née Mosse) was born April 10, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father emigrated from Romania to Canada, later moving to Chicago, where he met Berkovits’s mother, a daughter of Russian immigrants. After graduating from Loyola University, Berkovits married and started her career as an educator teaching at an elementary school in inner city Chicago. She taught there for twelve years before moving with her husband, son and daughter to Las Vegas, Nevada.

James "Big Jim" Cashman was born to Benjamin Franklin Cashman and Ella Mary Stovall in Ladue, Missouri on December 16, 1884. Cashman moved to Searchlight, Nevada in 1904 and began working a variety of jobs until he opened an automobile garage in approximately 1910. Cashman later sold automobiles and operated in Searchlight until the mining boom halted around 1920. As a result, Cashman decided to move his business to the growing city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Cashman met his future wife, Leah Barker, in Las Vegas and they married in 1923.