When Shirley Jean Gentry was born on 10 April 1930, in Houston, Harris, Texas, United States, her father, Elmer Wallace Gentry, was 22 and her mother, Gladys Olean Warren, was 21. She married Nathan Manuel Grantom on 23 October 1948, in Dallas, Collin, Texas, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 1 daughter. She died on 15 June 2005, in Port Isabel, Cameron, Texas, United States, at the age of 75, and was buried in Port Isabel, Cameron, Texas, United States.