Darlene Evelyn Kudlac was born on May 11, 1935, in Los Angeles County, California, her father was Albert Kudlac and her mother was Evelyn McConaha. She married her classmate Dale Frazier Roberts (1935-2015) in 1953. They were both in the class of 1953. Darlene and Robert had a daughter, Darci (Roberts) Bishop. After Darlene and Dale divorced she married Wayne Stephenson and had a second daughter, Linda (Stephenson) Bradford. On February 14, 1981. She married Rolland J Nicholson on February 14, 1981, in Marion, Oregon.

Linda and her husband Russ Bradford have been caregivers for Darlene over the past 10 years. Darlene had been on dialysis for past five years and passed away from natural causes on January 31, 2020.

While growing up Darlene and her parents lived at 107 Argus Avenue in Trona. This is one of the houses across from the Recreation Center. Darlene and her mother used to collect old bottles and jars in the desert and set them in the sun in their backyard to turn purple.