When Mary Gertrude van Gilse was born on 15 April 1901, in Nyssa, Malheur, Oregon, United States, her father, Robert van Gilse, was 27 and her mother, Trijntje Tensen, was 22. She married Ralph Sanders Beaver on 28 September 1922, in Boise, Ada, Idaho, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 1 daughter. She lived in Salt Lake, Utah, United States in 1935 and Glendale Judicial Township, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1940. She died on 12 July 1996, in Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 95.