Jack was born April 15, 1920, in Portland. He graduated from St. Stephen Grade School in Portland and Bellarmine High School in Tacoma. He graduated from Washington State College in Pullman, WA, with a BS in political science.

Jack served in the European theater during World War II and participated in the Normandy Invasion. He was taken prisoner of war for nine months in Germany and Poland where was forced to walk 800 miles during the winter to a POW camp. He returned to the United States in 1945 and was hospitalized until 1948.

He married Mary MacDonald in 1947. He worked as an accountant for Standard Oil for 32 years. Jack enjoyed golfing, fishing and meetings of the Saturday Night Club.