Shirley Marlin Noznisky was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 25, 1939, to Jewish parents Isaac and Bessie Noznisky; her father was born in Poland circa 1894 and became a US citizen in 1912. Isaac set up a scrap metal Business at South Claymont Street, Wilmington. He was shot dead by a drunken fellow East European immigrant on November 18, 1956. Shirley Noznisky had one brother, Julius, 16 years her senior.