Lois (née Milton) Zimmerman was born in 1923 near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She graduated from high school in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and earned a BA degree from Lesley College, a teacher training college in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During her time in Cambridge, she met her husband who was training to become a chaplain in the army. Their oldest child Donnie died of polio at age seven; they had four other children. She was a kindergarten teacher for many years, including during the era of school desegregation in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dick Kimball was born in 1935 in Rochester, Minnesota. He was the Minnesota high school diving champion four years in a row, and he also excelled in gymnastics, trampoline, and cheerleading. At the University of Michigan, he was the NCAA springboard champion in 1957, and in 1963 he was the Professional World Diving champion. Kimball coached the University of Michigan diving team for 43 years, and several U.S. Olympic diving teams.