Editing Caroll Spinney (section)

==Early life==
Spinney was born in [[Waltham, Massachusetts|Waltham]], [[Massachusetts]], on December 26, 1933, to Chester and Margaret Spinney. He had two older brothers, Donald and David. His mother, a native of [[Bolton]], [[England]], named him Caroll despite him being male because he was born the day after Christmas. He drew and painted from childhood, and developed a love of puppeteering when he saw a performance of "[[Three Little Kittens]]" at the age of five. This motivated him to purchase a monkey puppet from a [[jumble sale|rummage sale]] three years later and put on a puppet show utilizing the monkey and a plush snake. The following [[Christmas]], his mother gave him a [[Punch and Judy]] puppet theater. He continued puppeteering throughout his childhood and adolescence and used his performances to raise money for college tuition.<ref>{{cite book|last=Spinney|first=Caroll|title=The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch)|date=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wisdomofbigbirda00spin/page/9 9–11]|publisher=Villard |isbn=0-375-50781-7|url=https://archive.org/details/wisdomofbigbirda00spin/page/9}}</ref>

After he graduated from Acton High School (subsequently [[Acton-Boxborough Regional High School]]) in [[Acton, Massachusetts]], Spinney served in the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]].<ref name=npr>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1249919|title=A Life Inside Big Bird|publisher=NPR|date=May 5, 2003|access-date=June 8, 2013}}</ref>