Charles Monroe Schulz was the famous American cartoonist who created the well-known comic strip/television program "Peanuts". On November 26, 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Dena Halverson and Carl Schulz gave the their first and only child, Charles Monroe Schulz, was born. His father, Carl Schulz, was born in Germany and his mother, Dena Halverson, was Norwegian. His uncle called him "Sparky" like the horse in Billy DeBeck's comic strip, "Barney Google." Schulz loved to draw. Sometimes he drew his family dog, “Spike,” who ate strange things like pins and tacks. (artcollection.mycrom.it) In 1937, Schulz drew a picture of Spike and sent it to "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" (wikipedia.org) The photo was placed in Robert Ripley's combined panel with the caption: "A hunting dog that eats pins, tacks and razor blades is owned by C. F. Schulz, St. Paul, Minnesota and 'Drawn by Sparky '". Schulz attended Richards Gordon Elementary School in St. Paul. He ended up missing two half grades. He was said to be "shy" and "timid" as a teenager. It may have been because he was the youngest in his class at Central High School. During his high school years, he placed some of his drawings in the high school yearbook, but they were rejected. 60 years later, a 5-foot-tall statue of "Snoopy" was placed in the school's main office. In February 1943, Schulz was drafted into the United States Army. (peanuts.wikia.com) Around the same time, his mother, Dena, died of cancer. His mother's death had a very strong impact on him. Schulz served as a sergeant major with the 20th Armored Division in Europe. He was also the team leader of a .50 caliber machine gun team. (www.huffingtonpost.com) He fought in battle at the very end of the war and only had one chance to fire his machine... middle of paper... and the fact that he couldn't read or see clearly, announced the his retirement on December 14, 1999. Schulz died in his sleep at his home on February 12, 2000 at approximately 9:45 pm, from complications related to colon cancer. The last original "Peanuts" strip was published the next day, February 13. Schulz was buried at Pleasant Hills Cementary in Sebastopol, California. Charles M. Schulz was the creator of the famous comic strip "Peanuts" and many other comics. "Peanuts" is still very popular to this day. During the holidays, specials are still broadcast on television and reruns of comics are still printed in newspapers, both daily and Sunday. Many people go to Snoopy's Ice Arena and visit the museum dedicated to Charles M. Schulz. Statues of "Peanuts" characters were placed all around Santa Rosa. Despite his absence, he is still much loved, as is his work.