When Phillip Owen Reat was born on 6 June 1912, in Dime Box, Lee, Texas, United States, his father, Strobia Elmo Reat, was 29 and his mother, Lucy Ann Hensley, was 19. He married Gwendolyn Doreise Hartman on 12 March 1948, in Houston, Harris, Texas, United States. He lived in Williamson, Texas, United States in 1930 and Angleton, Brazoria, Texas, United States in 2002. He died on 26 September 2002, in Crescent City, Putnam, Florida, United States, at the age of 90.