Editing Mort Walker (section)

==Early life==
Walker was born in [[El Dorado, Kansas]], as the third of four children in the family. His siblings were Peggy W. Harman (1915–2012), Robin Ellis Walker (1918–2013) and Marilou W. White (1927–2021).<ref name="SS">{{cite web|url=https://www.stripes.com/mort-walker-whose-beetle-bailey-was-a-comic-page-staple-for-decades-dies-at-94-1.508809|title=Mort Walker, whose 'Beetle Bailey' was a comic-page staple for decades, dies at 94|publisher=Stars and Stripes|date=January 27, 2018|author=Bahrampour, Ali}}</ref> After a couple of years, his family moved to [[Amarillo, Texas]],{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=3}} and later to [[Kansas City, Missouri]], in late 1927,{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=3}}<ref name="Adv">{{cite web|url=https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Beetle-Bailey-cartoonist-Mort-Walker-dies-12530668.php|title='Beetle Bailey' Cartoonist Mort Walker Dies at 94|newspaper=Stamford Advocate|access-date=January 27, 2018|date=January 27, 2018}}</ref> where his father, Robin Adair Walker (d. 1950),{{sfn|Whiton|2005|p=xv}}{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}}<ref name="NDTV">{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mort-walker-who-drew-beetle-bailey-for-68-years-dies-at-94-1805407|title=Mort Walker, Whose 'Beetle Bailey' Was A Comic-Page Staple For Decades, Dies at 94|publisher=NDTV|date=January 28, 2018}}</ref> was an architect, while his mother, Carolyn Richards Walker (d. 1970),{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}}<ref name="NDTV"/>{{sfn|Whiton|2005|p=xvi}} worked as a newspaper staff illustrator.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/obituaries/mort-walker-dead-beetle-bailey-cartoonist.html|title=Mort Walker, Creator of 'Beetle Bailey' Comic Strip, Dies at 94|work=The New York Times|date=January 27, 2018|author=Goldstein, Richard}}</ref> He was of Scottish, Irish, and English descent. One of his ancestors was a doctor aboard the ''[[Mayflower]]''.{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=2}}

During his elementary school years, he drew for a student newspaper.<ref name="NYT"/> He attended [[Northeast High School (Missouri)|Northeast High School]], where he was a cheerleader, school newspaper editor, yearbook art editor, stage actor in a radio show and ran neighborhood teen center that belonged to several organizations.{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}} He had his first comic published at age 11 and sold his first cartoon at 12.<ref name="WPobit"/> At age 14, he regularly sold gag cartoons to ''Child's Life'', ''Flying Aces'', and ''Inside Detective'' magazines.<ref name="Adv"/> When he was 15, he drew a comic strip, ''The Lime Juicers'', for the weekly ''Kansas City Journal'', and worked as a staff artist at the same time for an industrial publisher.{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}} At age 18, he was the chief editorial designer for Hallmark Brothers (later [[Hallmark Cards]]) and was instrumental in changing the company's cards from cuddly bears to gag cartoons, which were more suitable for soldiers.<ref name="SS"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lospaziobianco.it/addio-mort-walker-papa-beetle-bailey/|title=Addio a Mort Walker, il papà di Beetle Bailey|publisher=Los Paziobianco|access-date=January 27, 2018|date=January 27, 2018}}</ref>

Graduating from [[Northeast High School (Missouri)|Northeast High School]], he attended one year at [[Metropolitan Community College (Missouri)|Kansas City Junior College]] in 1942–43<ref name="missouri.edu">{{cite web|url=https://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-three.html|title=Mort Walker on the MU Campus|website=muarchives.missouri.edu}}</ref> before going to the [[University of Missouri]]. Walker's physical presence in [[Columbia, Missouri|Columbia]] is noted by The Shack, which was a rambling burger joint behind [[Jesse Hall]] on Conley Avenue. Images resembling the interior of the shack appeared in ''Beetle Bailey'' cartoons and is mentioned by name in the September 14, 1950 ''Beetle Bailey'' strip.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://beetlebailey.com/2015/04/23/the-shack/|title=The Shack}}</ref> Walker visited the Shack on return trips to Columbia with the last being to the original structure in 1978. The Shack was destroyed in a fire in 1988 and Walker returned in 2010 for dedication of a replica of the building in the student center with the dining area now formally called "Mort's".<ref name="missouri.edu"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/7e8fde8e-fe2e-5dd4-a29c-c6296f60a9ea.html|title=The Shack is gone but lives on|first=Warren|last=Dalton}}</ref> A life-sized bronze statue of Beetle Bailey stands in front of the alumni center which is near The Shack's original location.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-two.html|title=Beetle Bailey statue|publisher=Muarchives|access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref>