Walt Disney & His Life Story, Part One – Early Life, By Inesh V, 4th Grade, Chicago, IL

Do you know about Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, Disneyland and Disney World? Born on 1901 and died on 1966 he did many things we thank him for now.

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago in a house that his dad made. Walt lived with parents Elias & Flora, brothers Roy, Raymond, Herbert and sister Ruth. When Walt was 4 year old, the city was getting rough, so the family moved to a farm in Missouri. 3 years later when Walt was 7 he started going to school. Walt made his first cartoons there when he drew an animal in the corner of his textbook and flipped. When he flipped it looked like the animal was moving. They were his first cartoons. One day the family had to sell the farm. Walt was heartbroken. He had always loved the farm.

Later when Walt was 16 his brothers Herbert and Roy went to World War I to fight. (Not Raymond because he ran away while they were on the farm.) Walt wanted to come to see the war, but he was too young to enlist, so he convinced his parents to enlist him in the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. Sadly by the time he came the war had ended, so he had to drive the wounded fighters and run errands. He returned a year later in October 1919. He was 17 by the time he came back home.

After coming back Walt enrolled in a commercial art company. He put a lot of talent and enthusiasm into his work. While he was there he met Ub Iwerks and they became best friends quickly. Later after work let out Walt and Ub tried starting their own company, but barely any customers came and it closed. Sometime later the Kansas City Slide company offered them a job. They both decided that Walt should go and hoped it would be short time so they could work together. The Kansas City Slide company loved Walt’s talent so much that they offered $50 for full-time. The offer was too good to pass up. Within a couple of months Walt managed to get UB in the company too.

Stay tuned for part two….