Z. Ray Wakeman was born, Zdzislaw Yerzy Roslaniec, in Germany, of Polish-Russian ancestry, and is a direct descendant of the " Roseline." In 1938 his mother was taken prisoner from her family estate on the Vistula River in Poland, and transported by cattle train to Germany, to work as slave labor on a farm. In 1951, Z. Ray Wakeman, with his Mother and Stepfather immigrated to the U.S.A.Z. Ray grew up in Kansas ****, Missouri, where he he attended Northeast High School, University of Missouri ** and the Art Institute. During the VietNam war, Z. Ray was a US Army Combat Engineer Platoon Commander, in 1967-68. After returning from VietNam, Z. Ray worked as a lifeguard at Winnwood Lake in North Kansas ****, and helped lay 24 miles of the first water line between Independence and Buckner Missouri.