Modestus was raised in Carroll Township, Cambria Co. Pa., and was an accomplished basketball player in his youth, when he was known as “Decky.” Modestus attended St. Francis College in Loretto in 1910-2 and 1912-3, where he met his wife and played on the basketball team, but did not continue because he was needed at the family mill. In 1917, he was driving a delivery truck for his father’s milling operation, and had a hearing impairment caused by an accident. He himself was a miller. Modestus and Hilda first lived with Hilda’s mother in Patton, Pa.

In 1925, the Modestus and Hilda Farabaugh family moved to Detroit, MIch., where his brother George had already settled. By 1930, Modestus became was involved there as a receiving manager and clerk for a grocery warehouse. He worked for the Great A&P Tea Company at the warehouse on the Detroit River. He worked 31 years as a receiving clerk for the A&P food stores, and then worked as a bookkeeper for Polar Refrigeration Co.. A niece to Hilda, Mary Bishop, was raised with the family.