Jay L. Christensen was born on July 6, 1924, in Redmond, Utah. He graduated high school and joined the navy during his first year of college at Brigham Young University, before he could be drafted. He ended up in the medical corps and trained to become a surgical technician. In 1945, he married his wife before being sent to Okinawa as backup soldiers. When he returned home, he worked in the cattle and farming business. He and his wife raised a family of five children, and their family has grown to include 28 grandchildren and 60 great-grandchildren.