Born August 26th 1939, James attended Flynn Park Elementary
School and then moved on to University City Junior High School and
University City High School where he graduated in June 1957. As an
undergraduate he attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs
CO, receiving his Batchelor of Science in 1961, with a major in
chemistry and a minor in German. While studying for his minor he
attended The University of Heidelberg in Germany for 3 months and
then The Interpreter Institute in Munich for 6 months studying the
German language.
James then moved to Washington University in St Louis MO to study
medicine, graduating as MD in 1965. While studying medicine he
traveled to Uganda Africa as a medical missionary at Ankolo Mission
Hospital. It was here, that after witnessing one of the Drs performing
a cataract operation on a totally blind man, thus returning his sight,
that James decided to continue his study in medicine in the area of
Ophthalmology.