格涅·赖亚尔斯，Born Emmett Eugene Ryals in Lambert, Mississippi Feburary 29, 1944 (Leap year) the only child of Oakley and Mertie Mae Ryals. Father was farm machinery mechanic in the Mississippi Delta. Certainly not very wealthy. Gene joined the U.S.Army at age 17 and spent two and a half years in Germany, where he met his first wife Cristal Albrecht.