Walter Jarvis Miles was born on October 11, 1905, to George Edmund Miles and Victoria Josephine Jarvis in St. George, Utah. Growing up, he worked on the family farm and did odd jobs around Utah, including working on roads and in mines. In 1928, he began attending Brigham Young University, where he majored in economics and sociology. In 1929, he began teaching at a school in Springdale. He married Eva Leavitt in 1931, and they stayed at his family's home for the summer before going back to Springdale to teach. They would go on to have six children together. In 1934, Walter went to Logan and began work on a master's degree in educational administration with a minor in psychology, which he graduated with in 1940. During World War II, Walter worked as a guard at a magnesium plant and as the administrative assistant for the War Preparations program at (then) Dixie College. He retired from teaching in 1971, and Eva died in 1987. Walter passed away on August 14, 1993, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Eva Leavitt Miles was born on February 20, 1909, to Dudley Henry Leavitt and Mary Hafen in Bunkerville, Nevada. She learned to work hard from a very young age, helping with the chores around the house. Eva went to Dixie College (as it was then called) and graduated in 1929. She got her first teaching contract in Virgin, Utah, where she taught for a year. Then she found a job in Rockville, Utah, where she met Walter Jarvis Miles. He offered to take her on his next trip to St. George, Utah, and soon after they were married. She taught school until her first child was born in 1933. The couple went on to have six children. They moved around a bit as Walter took on odd jobs during the summers and he pursued a master's degree, but eventually they settled in St. George. Eva Leavitt Miles died on November 13, 1987, in St. George, Utah.

Lorna Miles Winkler was born in 1950, the daughter of Eva and Walter Jarvis Miles. Lorna studied at Dixie High School and Southern Utah University. As of 2024, she was a resident of St. George, Utah.

Albert Lynn Winkler was born on November 22, 1949, to Wendell A. Winkler and Leota Brady, and was raised in Tooele, Utah. He attended Snow College and completed a bachelor's degree from Utah State University (USU) in 1973. He received a master's degree from USU in 1976 and joined the faculty of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University in 1979. Winkler continued his studies after his appointment, earning another master's degree from the Catholic University of America in 1980, a master's of library science from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1981, and a Ph.D. in history from BYU in 1982. He previously worked as a manuscripts cataloger and became a history subject librarian in 2013. In December 2019, Winkler retired from Brigham Young University.