When Ford Edwin Thorpe was born on 1 November 1915, in Castle Gate, Carbon, Utah, United States, his father, James Alfred Thorpe, was 31 and his mother, Maud May Gammell, was 29. He married Twyla Johns on 24 June 1937, in Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He lived in Bristol, Lincoln, Nevada, United States for about 7 years and Palmyra, Utah, Utah, United States in 1940. He died on 26 June 2001, in Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah, United States, at the age of 85, and was buried in Spanish Fork City Cemetery, Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah, United States.