Marideth Ann (Gentry) Sisco was born June 15, 1943 at home in Butterfield, Missouri to Marguerite Elenor Gentry Sisco and Paul Holtz Sisco. Marguerite worked in a cafe; he was a farmer/milk hauler who joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor and who served on a destroyer as reman 1st class and anti-aircraft gunner. He came home without leave when Marideth was born and served time in the brig until he cleared his record by volunteering for a suicide mission in the Pacific, for which he received, along with the rest of the crew, a presidential citation.