He was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1890, the third of eight children. At eleven he quit school to help with the family expenses, and he got his first full-time job, at $3.50 per week. At fifteen he got interested in automobiles and went to work in a garage for $4.50 a week. He knew he would never get anywhere without schooling, so he subscribed to a correspondence home study course on automobiles. Night after night he worked at the kitchen table by the light of kerosene lamp until he felt he was ready!