jack robert gage was born on january 13, 1899 in mccook, nebraska to will vernon and lavaughn gage. in 1905 the family moved to worland, wyoming where gage was raised. in 1918 he served in the army during world war i artillery until he was honorably discharged in 1919. in 1924 he received a bachelor of arts degree from the university of wyoming in agriculture. on september 29, 1922 he married leona switzer and would later have two sons with her. from 1924 to 1925 he was a vocational agriculture teacher and from 1929 to 1934 he was a geology and biology teacher.