H. James Jr. was born on the H. S. Strong ranch, in the "Seton" house as it was called, located adjacent to Canon Ranch and rented by the States family in 1909. His childhood was challenging what with a heavy work load as the only boy, and two ever-present sisters. (See photo). James helped his father in all the family business enterprises beginning in Lander with cattle and sheep and later apiculture as "States Apiaries" in Saratoga.
He graduated from Lander High School in 1929 and was awarded the honor scholarship. The family could not afford to send him to UW, so he forfeited the scholarship and enrolled in a year (1930) of postgraduate courses at the high school. The family, desperate for financial support, sold some ranch property, mortgage deeded much of what was left to James's grandmother, Minnie J. States. They all moved to Crete, Nebraska to work in the Crete Mills, which was owned by his great uncle Albert Johnson. His first year there, he enrolled at Doane College. His sister Margaret enrolled at Doan the following year while James worked in the mill. That fall he took and completed an RCA Institutes Inc. Radio Correspondence course (Certificate: 27 September 1932). In 1932 when his sister, Mignon, graduated from Crete High School, the whole family moved to Laramie. All three enrolled at the University of Wyoming in 1933.
While attending UW he worked for a stone mason who quarried blocks to construct buildings on the campus. He assisted in the physics department laboratories and worked with faculty on the "new" radar technology. He joined an amateur radio operators organization in May 23, 1935, the American Radio Relay League, Inc. In 1936 he started working for the USDA Bee Culture Laboratory and participated in research publications dealing with foul brood diseases of bees. While working for the lab in the late fall of 1939, he met Guenevere Gilfry. They were engaged in December and married in June, 1940. Because of his work with radar, he was offered an appointment as a student researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He declined this offer ini order to go into the bee business with his father and to raise his family in Wyoming.
Their twin sons, Jack Sterling and James Bruce were born in 1941. He was working part time for the bee lab and part for Hollidays Furniture. In 1942, he commuted to Saratoga and later moved there to conduct the bee business. A third son, Thomas Herbert, was born in 1943. (See photo). In 1947-1949 they operated a migratory bee operation in California, first in Greeley, then Colombia and finally at 'Route 2, Sonora CA. He was exempted from the draft in WW II because of the importance of apiculture, honey and wax, in the war effort. In Laramie and later in Saratoga, he took up radio repair and other electrical appliance and wiring jobs. He had experience also in refrigeration, learning that trade in Cheyenne, and established his own business in these areas in Saratoga as States Refrigeration and Major Appliance Service. In addition to working with the bee business, he added television sales and repair in the 1950s when it first became available and broadcast into the Saratoga area. He continued to work for Hollidays in Laramie in TV and radio repair service. He pioneered work in remote TV reception using special antennas, translators, and telescoping towers erected for local ranchers. He took over the management of the bee business upon the death of his father in 1963. Upon sale of that business he worked a short time for the Storer Ranches golf course and later, the local lumber mill. He enjoyed fishing and hunting with his wife and sons.
For many years James provided the only refrigeration and radio repair service in the upper Platte Valley and he was admired and respected by the many residents who knew him. Always a tip of the hat to the ladies and hats off in the house. After retirement he spent several winters in Payson, AZ where his in-laws, the Gilfrys, were living. Although he enjoyed the warmer weather there, he returned to Saratoga where he had earlier vowed that he would "die with his boots on in Wyoming". And there he passed away from a heart attack in May, 1991, a "true Wyoming pioneer and native son". 130