Hamner family biography interview

Earl Hamner was born on July 10, , in Schuyler, Virginia. From an early age, Earl knew that he wanted to be a writer. Books were a luxury for a young boy growing up during the Great Depression in rural Virginia. The only books that the Hamner family owned were the Holy Bible and a manual of beekeeping, but this did not deter Earl from following his dream.

On Family, Life and The Waltons – An Exclusive Interview with Earl Hamner life and family growing up in Schuyler, Virginia during the Depression era.

The poem was about Earl wearing a new blue sweater and pulling six puppies around in a new red wagon on Christmas morning. According to Earl, his first publication concerned his practical father because Earl did not own a blue sweater, red wagon, or six puppies. Earl continued to write throughout his boyhood, always keeping a journal where he recorded stories about his family and events that that he found interesting during the day.

Initially, Earl was sent to England where he learned to diffuse land mines. Two months after D-Day, Earl was sent to France. When it was learned that he could type, he was assigned to the nd Quartermaster Corp in Paris as a typist, a much safer assignment than land mine diffuser. During his military service, Earl continued to write, always keeping his pen and notepad with him.

Years later, Earl recalled sitting in a tent in Normandy writing while bombers flew over him heading to Berlin. After the war, Earl attended the College of Music of Cincinnati, where he studied radio writing. While enrolled there, Earl sold a script to the Dr. Christian radio show, which was the first time that he was paid for his writing.

The sale of this script brought Earl to the attention of the writing supervisor at WLW, Cincinnati's premier radio station, who offered Earl a job after college.