He served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War. He moved in 1970 to Hermiston, where he was an auditor for the Oregon Department of Revenue for 20 years. He moved in 2003 to Portland. In 1975, he married Vena Patterson. Survivors include his wife; daughters, Marlene Jordan, Debora Cox, Linda Chelsky, Julie Lewis and Susie Brown; sons, Larry; sisters, Veria Morris and Ethel Rosetta Wilson; brothers, Virgil D. and Harold; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.