Juanita Stout Ray was born on July 4, 1891, in Rockville, Utah, to David and Julia Cox Stout, a polygamous family of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Juanita began her education in Hinckley, Utah, then moved to Mexico with her family. She completed high school at the Juarez Stake Academy, where she met her future husband, John Ray. After leaving Mexico during the 1912 Revolution, Juanita taught elementary school in Hinckley, Utah and continued to write to John. They married in 1914 in Salt Lake City and had nine children: John Alexander Ray (1915-1918); Verda Ray Eyring; (1918-2003); Winona Ray Millet (1920-2005); Irving J Ray (1924-2005); Kathleen Ray Palmer (1926-2013); Ila Valeria Ray Fenn (1928-2011); Kennard Dewey Ray (1931-2018); and Donetta Pearl Ray (1933-1941). The family lived on a farm in rural Chandler, Arizona, raising dairy cows. They lost two children, John Alexander Ray Jr. at age three to influenza, Donnie Pearl Ray at age 8. The family later moved to Mesa, Arizona. John died in 1952 in Mesa, Arizona, and Juanita died January 28, 1954, in Mesa, Arizona.