When Elsie Ruth Thorp was born on 1 February 1911, in Throckmorton, Throckmorton, Texas, United States, her father, David Calvin Thorp, was 36 and her mother, Cora Estelle Wilkinson, was 18. She married George Irvin Guenther on 24 July 1942, in Abilene, Taylor, Texas, United States. She lived in Newcastle, Young, Texas, United States in 1920 and Justice Precinct 6, Young, Texas, United States in 1930. She died on 13 February 1978, in Burlington Junction, Nodaway, Missouri, United States, at the age of 67.