When Willis Gingerich was born on 23 February 1909, in Petersburg, Wilmot, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, his father, Louis R Gingerich, was 24 and his mother, Catherina Iutzi, was 24. He married Mabel Bast on 2 November 1932, in Ontario, Canada. He died on 5 February 1987, in Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 77, and was buried in Baden, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.