Elvira Laidlaw and her husband Ellis Laidlaw were born on January 24, 1896 in Seltice, Washington, and March 4, 1895 in Sacramento, California. Elvira grew up on a wheat farm in Palouse, Washington, and graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington in 1919 with a degree in English. Ellis grew up in Waitsburg, Washington, served in the Marines from 1917 through 1919, and took various business, ROTC, and animal husbandry courses from universities in Pennsylvania and San Francisco. He married Elvira in 1920, and proceeded to build a farm in Dixie, Washington. While maintaining their farm, they also wrote a book on the history of Waitsburg, Washington and the Pacific Northwest, and were members of various fraternal and sororal organizations. Ellis died on May 19, 1971, and Elvira died on March 11, 1993.