When John Raphael Freye was born on 21 April 1910, in Springfield Township, Clark, Ohio, United States, his father, John Michael Frye, was 52 and his mother, Mary Ellen Graney, was 39. He married Jeannette Frances Vanderford on 13 August 1938, in Allen, Indiana, United States. He lived in Urbana, Urbana Township, Champaign, Ohio, United States in 1940. He died on 27 February 1980, in Lee, Florida, United States, at the age of 69, and was buried in Fort Myers, Lee, Florida, United States.