Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) = Illustrator. Film-maker. Best known for Mickey & Minnie Mouse and Donald & Daisy Duck. Born to Elias and Flora (Call) Disney in Chicago, Illinois, Walt [named for Rev. Walter Parr (1871-1922) and his father] was their fourth of five children. Walt was brought up in a musical (his dad played the fiddle) and Christian home where he was taught the values of right and wrong.
Financially, life was a struggle for the Disney family and after Walt was born, his family moved from Chicago to the rural town of Marceline, Missouri. As a young farm-boy, he developed an interest in drawing animals.
In 1911, they moved to Kansas City. Young Walt and his brother, Roy, help their father deliver newspapers. He attended school at Benton Elementary, under  Principal William Cottingham's leadership. Then it was back to Chicago where Walt began high school in 1917 and in 1918, he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corp in France and afterwards, returned first to Chicago and then back to Kansas City in 1919.
Disney had various jobs there such as designing stationery letterheads and advertisements, learning how to make cutout film animations and opening his own companies, however, he was not a financial success and left Kansas City in 1923 for Hollywood, California where he promptly created another company called the Disney Brothers Studio. Disney created Oswald the Rabbit (1927) and Mickey Mouse in "Steamboat Willie" (1928) there. Walt was the voice of Mickey for nearly twenty years of the cartoon. He went on to experiment with Technicolor, a new 3-color process in his films and won Academy Awards for "Flowers and Trees" (1932) and "Snow White" (1937).
Walt married Lillian Marie Bounds (1925) and had two girls, Sharon and Diane. Two years after his death, the US Postal Service issued a 6 cent stamp in his honor.

More to Read:
1. State Historical Society of Missouri, "Walt Disney"
2. Walt Disney Family Museum
3. Disney Family 

4. Just Disney

5. Wikipedia "Walt Disney"

6.  Disney Website
7.  Disney/Hallmark License 
8.  "The Purpose of Storyboarding" video

9. FREE Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto Printable Coloring Sheet
10. Movie Trailer - "Walt Before Mickey" 
11. Norman Besheer, Past President of the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City.

12.  A Historic Kansas City Church Beloved by Disney Family is Coming Down Stone by Stone. By Anna Spoerre, Kansas City Star. 2021
13. A Disneyland Brick

14. The Musical World of Walt Disney. By David Tietyen. Hal Leonard Publishing Corp,, Milwaukee, WI, 1990. 

15. Findagrave #284

Craft Idea: Create a Passport Journal. Make a passport to resemble a real one or purchase a small blue blank book at the dollar store or purchase one of the official Disney passports. Make or purchase representative Disney stickers. Handmade stickers can be tiny photos of each of the locations you visited pertaining to him or rubber stamped Disney images . When you have visited all the places pertaining to Disney in Missouri or Kansas, you'll have a keepsake of your trip to keep forever. Added bonuses -- try to find a real Disney postage stamp and obtain autographs of tourist guides to add to your Passport. 

Another Idea: Collect Disney postcards and scrapbook them! Or Disney themed shopping bags. 

Places to Visit in MO & KS:

1. Historical Marker Database (Search "Walt Disney") 
2. Walt Disney Museum, 120 W. Santa Fe, Marceline, MO.

3. Walt Disney United States Post Office Building, 120 E. Ritchie Street, Marceline, MO.

4.  Walk Disney's newspaper route - 27th Street to 31st Street and from Prospect Ave to Indiana Ave. Kansas City. (Approximately 600 to 700 customers then.)

5. Disney Homes - 2706 E. 31st Street and 3028 Bellefontaine St., Kansas City (please respect the privacy of the homeowners).
6. Benton Elementary, 31st and Benton Blvd., Kansas City, MO. 

7. Laugh-O-Gram Studio, McConaughey Building,  1127 E. 31st St (31st and Forest Ave), 2nd floor, Kansas City -- takes money to restore the building for a museum
8. Union Railroad Station (Disney rode a train to California), 30 W. Pershing Rd. Kansas City
9. Disney Store, Oak Park Mall, 11447 W. 95th Street, #L1-S52, Overland Park, KS.

10. Walt Disney's grandparents are buried in Mount Hope Cemetery,  Spruce and East 12th St., Ellis, Ellis County, KS.

Disney Community Service Projects:
1.) Hold a Book Drive for Kids in a Homeless Shelter!