James Woodbury Tripp was born on September 19, 1928, in Patchogue, N .Y. He had two sons and four daughters with Patricia Hart. He died on December 18, 2013, in Kitsap, Washington, at the age of 85. He jumped at Missoula 1949-52.

Jim was raised in Colorado and Wyoming and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1946 and then attended the University of Washington. He began his career in heavy machinery sales, then operated a series of civil construction companies in Seattle until his retirement.