Carie Graves was born in Madison, Wisconsin to parents Robert and Dyrele (Derry) Graves. Carie grew up in Wyoming Township near Spring Green, Wisconsin, and she attended River Valley High School. Her paternal grandparents had moved to the Spring Green area in the 1930s from South Dakota so that Ben Graves, her grandfather, could take up a position as the land and farm manager at the renowned Taliesin. Her father, Robert Graves, had rowed for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Derry Graves, who came from a circus family in Baraboo, Wisconsin, was a trained registered nurse. In the late 1960s, she worked as a nurse at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, while Robert farmed.
