Loyd West has been in an electric wheelchair since 2004. He received his B.S. in Business Administration in 1973, and M.P.A. in Public Administration, in 1978, both from California State University at Hayward. He traveled to Mexico and Colombia with Wycliffe Bible Translators for a year, and then took a position with Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in 1980. He worked there before he was overcome with a brain disease in 2001. He currently lives in the California San Francisco bay area with his wife.