Ivory, James

James Ivory was born in Berkeley, California on June 7, 1928. Edward Ivory, his father, had grown up in New York state where he attended Syracuse University and graduated in forestry. As an ROTC graduate he served as an officer in France during World War I and after the war was employed in Thomas Edison's experimental laboratory in New Jersey at East Orange. In 1921 he married Hallie DeLoney, descended from an old Louisiana family. Later they moved to Berkeley, California where he was employed by the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in San Francisco. In 1933 he moved his family to Klamath Falls, Oregon where in partnership with an investor he bought a lumber mill adjacent to Klamath Lake and later built another in Bly, Oregon called the Ivory Pine Company.

The family maintained their primary residence in Klamath Falls and James attended Sacred Heart Academy. While discipline was strict, a teaching sister recognized his artistic ability and encouraged him to take drawing and painting classes. He later attended Klamath Union High School where he made many lifelong friends among students and faculty. In addition to an academic course, he participated in school drama and journalism, and spent many of his weekends skiing at nearby Crater Lake National Park where he also worked as a cabin attendant during the summer.

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