His father was a coal mining engineer which meant the family moved around considerably in James' early years.
He also built crystal sets and a radio transmitter which was apparently powerful enough for the signal to reach Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois.
[1] His mother died on November 1, 1924, when he was 22, he then left home and met his future wife, Glenna Peterson, in Salt Lake City in 1925.
Decker was killed in an airplane crash in 1939 and Lansing Manufacturing Company began to suffer financial difficulties without his business guidance.
As a result of deteriorating business conditions and personal problems he committed suicide, hanging himself from an avocado tree outside his San Marcos ranch home on September 29, 1949, aged 47.