According to the 1920 Census, Stanley was born in Galicia, Poland. His father Michael immigrated in 1901 and Stanley arrived with his mother in 1902. They lived at the Cymbria Mine settlement in Susquehanna Township, Cambria County, Pa. Stanley became a coal miner, like his father. Despite this specific record, several other sources indicate that he was instead born in Pennsylvania. During WWI, he served in the 61st Infantry, Co. F, from October of 1917 to February of 1919. His family was living in Barnesboro, Pa., in 1930 and 1935, and in Heilwood, Pa., in 1940.

The Malippas eventually settled in Mentor, Oh. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Mary sent a sympathy card to Jacqueline Kennedy, and received in response a black-bordered acknowledgement, which was placed in a scrapbook and reported in the local newspaper.