Joe A. Rector (August 12, 1935 – August 19, 2012) was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the heart of Indian country. He is of Cherokee ancestry. He lived in Muskogee, then Tulsa Oklahoma for most of his life, until he retired. He then moved to Destin, Florida to be near his children until the time of his death in 2012.Rector started drawing at about the age of five.His first drawings were done by looking at comic book characters and drawing them.