David McKibben was born in 1961 in Kokomo, Indiana. His first 10 years he lived with his brothers and parents in a house on the corner of a city block that was a slowly disappearing apple orchard that did business in the 100 or so years before he was born. David did well in middle school and high school, graduating eleventh in his class of 170.

He attended Purdue University, studying engineering and Language arts. The first time any of his writing was published was in his sophomore year when the daily student newspaper, The Purdue Exponent, had called on all students to submit poetry. David’s poem, “Coffee Cup” was accepted and published in the first literary issue of the Exponent. Later, he used the poem for a song lyric.

David left Purdue and began attending Indiana University in Kokomo, where his poem, “Time” was included in Indiana University at Kokomo’s Chanticleer, a small book of poems.

He was married in 1984 and divorced in 1986, and within months, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana to pursue a degree on Indiana University’s main campus. That is where his story begins.