Charles Kemmons Wilson, Jr. was born in Osceola, AR on January 5, 1913. The only child of Charles Kemmons Wilson and Ruby “Doll” Lloyd Hall, he was raised by his mother following his father’s death when Kemmons was only 9 months old. Doll and Kemmons returned to her hometown of Memphis shortly after the death of her young husband. Charles-Kemmons-WilsonJrEven his youth, Kemmons was enterprising and contributed to the family’s income. Kemmons’ moneymaking opportunities included magazine sales, paper routes, grocery sacker, delivery boy, soda jerk and furniture builder. At age 17 he dropped out of Central High School to become the breadwinner of the family due to the loss of Doll’s job during the Great Depression. His first successful venture involved selling popcorn outside a movie theater in Memphis. When Kemmons began to MAKE MORE MONEY from popcorn sales than the theater made in ticket sales he was forced by the theater manager to stop selling his popcorn. Kemmons went on to manage pinball machines and cigarette vending machines sharing the cash he took in with the owners of the locations. In addition, he owned an ice cream store, and eventually 11 movie theaters in several cities. At age 20, working 15-hour days, he soon had saved enough money to build a home for his mother and himself. Later, he used the house as collateral to borrow funds to purchase a regional jukebox distributorship for Wurlitzer. Learning that you could build a house, then use it to borrow more money than it cost to build it, was a life-changing experience for him. Thus began a career in construction that continued until his death. CLICK HERE for a list of all the jobs Kemmons held before founding Holiday Inn.