Born south of Hope, Kansas on family farm and graduated from Hope High School in 1933. Served as a Staff Sargent in the 787th Field Artillery Battalion in the Rhineland and Central Europe. He Married Zena Jessie Cooke in 1944. He worked for Day Garage in Lost Springs until 1954, when he moved to Herrington to work as a rural letter carrier until 1979. He was a member of the Carey R. McClaren American Legion Post no. 12.