Graham McKee James Jr. was born on January 3, 1914, to Graham McKee James Sr. (1891-1978) and Eliza Leona James (1889-1964). He attended Herndon High School in his youth and served on the boards of the Herndon Baptist Church and Herndon Lions Club for many years. James was Mayor of Herndon from 1957-1961 and later headed the town’s Maintenance Department. In his professional life, James was in the contracting, real estate and insurance business. He was the general contractor for the Herndon Medical Center which was completed in 1959.

Herndon High School held its first Homecoming Day and parade on November 11, 1947. It has been held in late October and early November ever since. During its earlier years, the parade typically began at 1:00 p.m., ran for about an hour, was followed by a football game, and the day finished with a dance held in the Herndon High School gymnasium. The parade route wound through residential and business streets beginning at Park and Van Buren, curved around Station Street, and emptied onto Elden Street before disbanding on Sterling Road.

A police escort would start the parade followed by decorated floats of the various high school clubs and elementary schools of the area. Brownies, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, service clubs, civic organizations, and individual commercial firms came next. An army of fire vehicles and apparatuses from several local volunteer fire departments would conclude the parade.

James was there to photograph the parades before and after his time as mayor and even marched in it himself. He died of lymphoma at age 64 at Fairfax Hospital on December 18, 1978.