Walt Disney's father, Elias, was born in 1859 in Canada. His parents were Irish. He was the eldest of eleven children. Elias loved to move from place to place and had many different jobs. He has lived in Canada, Kansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Missouri. This was the time before automobiles, so people had horses and buggies. It wasn't common for people to travel more than 100 miles, but Elias loved traveling and living in different states. He worked as a farmer, hotelier, machinist, carpenter, postman and soldier. He practiced religion at St. Paul's Congregational Church. In 1888 he married his wife Flora and together they had four sons and a daughter. Herbert was born in 1889 in the spring. Raymond and Roy were born between 1889 and 1901. Walter was born on December 5, 1901. Ruth, the only girl, was born in 1903. Elias was very cruel to his children. He forced Herbert and Raymond to give him their business money, so they eventually ran away and this made Elias sick. When Roy and Walter grew up, Elias made them work too much and was also cruel to them, so Roy moved in with his Uncle Will. Walter was not yet old enough to leave home. (Fanning, 1994, p.19-27). Even though Walter was homebound with a strict father and the only boy, his mother made his life easier and he loved Ruth. He made a friend at school, also named Walt, and would often go to his friend's house and receive warmth and love. Walt had a passion for reading and some of his favorite authors were Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Horatio Alger. Roy came to visit often, and he and Walter remained close. Roy told Walt not to let Elias hurt him, so one day Walt fought back and was no longer abused. Walt Disney grew up loving his family's farm animal... middle of paper... if he died it almost made me cry. Even though Walt Disney was hugely successful at the end of his life and still is today, he was an ordinary businessman who had to suffer from debt several times, went through the good and bad of a partnership with his brother Roy, was a young entrepreneur, faced his workers on strike against him practicing communism, and had to deal with the ethics of keeping Disney family-friendly when he liked to drink and smoke. After reading this book, I feel like I have a connection with Walt Disney. I went to Walt Disney World once when I was nine, but now I want to go to Disney Land to truly appreciate Walt Disney's work and passion for his business. Works Cited Fanning, J., & Gibbons, L. (1994). Pop culture legends: Walt Disney. Chelsea House Publishers.Pride, Hughes and Kapoor. (2012). Business (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.