Joe Exum, the youngest son of Mary Wall and James G. Exum Sr., was born on April 8, 1943, in Snow Hill, North Carolina. He attended Snow Hill High School and graduated from Virginia Episcopal School in 1962, nicknamed Crazy by his classmates. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill and, upon graduation in 1966, married Sallie Jean Jackson of Rochester, New York, to whom he is still married.He spent the next five years in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the Strategic Air Command, where he was responsible for the safe operation of 10 ICBM Minuteman I missiles. Mr. Exum was honorably discharged as a captain in 1972 and he joined Happy Jack, Inc., a business started by his father, where he began his political adolescence writing letters to the editor for the next fifty years. Mr. Exum attended the initial White House Conference on Small Business at the request of Senator Jesse Helms and was subsequently appointed to the N.C. Small Business Advocacy Council by Governor Jim Hunt. During that time Mr. Exum fostered three children-Jay, Manning, and Sallie-coached little league baseball and basketball, and began two non-profit organizations: Bogue Banks Environmental Stewardship Corporation and Friends of Man's Best Friend. In addition to sponsoring a Vietnamese Boat family, Mr. Exum has starred in the local womanless beauty pageant, the local "Dancing with the Stars," and performed as the omniscient "Great Swami." He has flown around the world, crossing the equator twice, traveled all seven continents, swum in the Antarctic Ocean, and has raised over 3.5 million dollars for various organizations. He has degrees in Political Science and Business Administration, and he holds two patents and numerous trademarks. He holds a NADA for Happy Jack® tapeworm tablets, is a duplicate bridge life master, an avid fly fisherman, inveterate golfer and an Eagle Scout!
