Durice Dickerson (1898-1986) was born in Elbert County, Georgia, to John William Dickerson (1874-1959) and Theodoshie Dickerson (1877-1968) and grew up near Orlando, Florida. She attended nursing school at Grady Memorial Hospital and received additional nursing education from the University of Georgia Evening College, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Chicago. Durice worked as a nurse in Macon, Georgia; Orlando; and New York City before returning to Atlanta and working at Grady. In 1929, she became supervisor of the Children's Ward at Grady Hospital and later worked with the Georgia State Nurses’ Association and the Fulton County Health Department until her retirement in 1968. In 1944, she married James Butler Hanson (1887-1957). Durice served as the president of the Grady Hospital Alumnae Association; the vice president and president of the Georgia League of Nursing Education; the vice president of the Fifth District of the Georgia State Nurses' Association; and the executive secretary of the Georgia State Nurses’ Association.

James Butler Hanson (1887-1957) was born in Social Circle, Georgia, to James Frank Hanson (1865-1934) and Martha “Mattie” A. Borders (1868-1931). He graduated from Emory College in 1907, and was a member of the Kappa Phi Kappa fraternity. After college, he worked as a teacher at Hoke Smith School and as the assistant principal of Boys High School from 1914 to 1915. Hanson served in the United States Army during World War I as regimental 1st Sergeant of the 4th Company, U. S. War Prison Barracks Guard at Fort McPherson, Georgia. In 1918, he was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps, where he served until his honorable discharge in 1919. Hanson owned the Zone Oil Company in El Paso, Texas; was a member of American Legion Lodge #1; and was a 32nd Degree Mason.