Joe Edwin Hurley was born August 3, 1900, in Johnson County, Texas. He was the fourth of six children born to Virginia Leonard Eledge and John S. Hurley. Their first child, Rex, had died at the age of six months, so Joe joined his two older sisters and was raised as the oldest son.

Xea (pronounced "Exsa") Mae Smith was born September 23, 1900, in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas. She was the sixth of seven children born to Ann B. McGovern and James Reed Smith.

In 1901, when Joe and Xea were still babies, both of their families moved from Texas to Jackson County, Oklahoma.

By 1920, Joe's parents had moved on to Tipton, Tillman County.

Joe and Xea met at a church picnic when they were both just 14. They were married October 02, 1921, in Altus, Jackson County, Oklahoma, when they were both 21.

Their first child, daughter Billie Pearl, was born nine months later, on July 01, 1922. Their second child, son Gillean Paul, was born November 15, 1925. Their third child was daughter Jimye Jo Anne.

Joe owned a grocery store in Altus, Oklahoma, and was a Justice of the Peace. He performed marriages in his home, and he made the wedding cakes for each of them. He owned horses, and he knew everybody in southwest Oklahoma. Xea was an excellent seamstress. They were long-time members of the Methodist Church. In 1941, Joe joined the Odd Fellows.

Billie married Lavon Dale Ray on April 28, 1943 and moved to Wichita, Kansas. Gill married Marisue Mount. Jimye married Ralph Latas on December 21, 1952 in Wichita.

Xea died on September 14, 1953, in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, a week before her 53rd birthday.

Joe remarried twice, once to Nevada Patterson, and in 1968, to Maudie Walker.

On May 19, 1976, Joe's older sister, Pearl Hurley Thomas, died in Mansfield, Wright County, Missouri. On the way home from her funeral, Joe suffered a fatal heart attack on May 22, 1976, in Neodesha, Wilson County, Kansas.