Ray Kroc

Daydreaming, you mean.

But these weren't idle dreams.

When Ray dreamed about having a lemonade stand, it wasn't long before he'd go build one.

Then he was working at a grocery store, then his uncle's drugstore, then a tiny music store he started with friends.

The store failed, but he didn't care.

He was already on to the next thing.

Ray Kroc was born in Oak Park, just west of Chicago in 1902.

His family wasn't poor, but they weren't careful with money either.

Ray was expected to help with the housework, and he didn't mind.

He prided himself on cleaning as well as anyone else in the house.

That pride and cleanliness would follow him everywhere.

It would become an obsession, and eventually that obsession would build an empire.

Work is the meat in the hamburger of life, he would later write.

For him, work was play.

He got as much pleasure from it as he did from baseball.

And he loved baseball.

When World War I began, Ray was 15.

He lied about his age to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver.

In his company was another young man who had also lied about his age to get in.

While everyone else chased girls on leave, this kid stayed in camp drawing pictures.