The son of Walter and Esther Kenner of Devils Lake, North Dakota, Wayne Kenner graduated from Valley City State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1962. He was a teacher in Kloten, North Dakota, before eventually returning to Devils Lake to work for the United States Postal Service.

Carolyn Krause is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Krause of Long Lake, Minnesota. During the time the letters were written, she worked as a counselor at the Bremwood Lutheran Children's Home in Waverly, Iowa, and at Camp Tikvah in Aitkin, Minnesota.