JIM KESEY's parents and grandparents moved from LaJunta, Colorado in 1938 and settled in Oregon's Willamette Valley where Kesey was born in 1939. Kesey spent his teen-age years in Southern California. He attended Colorado State University on an athletic scholarship.

After he received his degree in 1962 he went into U.S. Marine Corp's Officer's Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. He served as a rifle platoon commander at Camp Pendleton, California.

In January of 1965 1st Lieutenant Kesey was sent to Okinawa and then to Vietnam.In Vietnam, Lieutenant Kesey served as a Reconnaissance Platoon Commander and S-3 Logistics Officer in Danang and Chu Lia.

Kesey has been a public administrator, teacher, and private businessman and is now a youth counselor for Tillamook County Juvenile Department. Kesey and his wife live on the Oregon Coast. They have five children and five grandchildren.