Garry Matlow moved to Brevard County, Florida, the home of the Kennedy Space Center, in 1964, graduating from Merritt Island High School and the University of Florida. After college he lived in the Houston, Texas, area for eight years before returning to Florida with his family for a 10-year stay in New Smyrna Beach. In 1995, tiring of the heat, humidity, tourists and retirees, he and his wife moved to the Pacific Northwest, making their home in Spokane, Washington.