When Marion Van Matre was born on 1 January 1906, his father, Willis Wiley Van Matre, was 48 and his mother, Caroline Verdaline Hunnel, was 24. He lived in Mount Vernon, Lawrence, Missouri, United States in 1910 and Redmond, Deschutes, Oregon, United States in 1920. He died on 11 January 1978, in The Dalles, Wasco, Oregon, United States, at the age of 72, and was buried in Redmond, Deschutes, Oregon, United States.