Chester Leo Helms was born in Santa Maria, California, the eldest of three sons. His parents were Chester and Novella Helms. Helms' father, a manager at a local sugarbeet mill, died when his oldest child was nine. Chet's mother, Novella, took the boys and their terminally ill father to Texas where her family, the Dearmore family resided. After Chet's father passed away his mother studied to become a school teacher and took the boys to the Ozarks in southwest Missouri and taught school in a two room schoolhouse. She taught four grades in one room and the other four grades were taught by another teacher in the other room.