When Grace Mahalia Hughes was born on 10 December 1916, in Decota, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States, her father, William Ray Hughes, was 23 and her mother, Elizabeth Mary Tucker, was 18. She had at least 2 sons with Herndon Virgil Perry. She died on 18 February 2002, in St. Albans, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States, at the age of 85, and was buried in Buffalo, Putnam, West Virginia, United States.