The print trade appealed to him as a career choice

With the Schalk s were their children Leo (born in 1883), Wilhelmina (1885), Theresa (1887), Walter (1890), Ray (August 12, 1892) and Clarence (1898). As the offspring of a day laborer — at one point, Herman received $35 a month as the Elk s Club janitor — the Schalk children fifa 15 ultimate team coins did their part to earn money for the family.17 After grammar school and during his brief time in high school, Ray performed various odd jobs, including delivering newspa- pers — it involved a 3:30 A.M. wake-up call — and hauling coal. Once, he got the job of helping drive cows through the streets of Litchfield to a pasture at the north terminus of Monroe Street.18 Though academics were not a per- sonal priority, Ray did enjoy certain aspects of high school. He and his bud- dies noticed that, as soon as the students returned to their classroom after lunch, a certain girl always used the large dictionary kept on a stand at the front of the room. One day during lunch hour, Ray slipped back into the empt y classroom and tampered with the book stand. When the girl, as expected, started to turn a page of the unabridged dictionary, it fell to the floor with a thud — much to the delight of the boys watching in anticipation. History did not record whether the dictionary was opened to the word “prank .”
Litchfield High was known more for its basketball teams than baseball squads. Though just an underclassman, Schalk was the basketball squad’s captain and forward. They played in cracker-box buildings with low ceilings, and players had to adjust the trajectories of their shots accordingly. The floor in Irving angled one foot lower at one end, forcing each team to run uphill one half and downhill the other. After a game in Barnett, six miles away (via the railroad track s), Schalk and the other Litchfield boys walked home rather than wait until the next morning to take the train.19 In another road game, the Litchfield High squad and Raymond Athletic Club were deadlocked at the end of regulation time. In a sudden-death overtime format, the game ended when “crack player” Schalk notched a field goal. Final score : 21–19.

Young Ray eventually landed an after-school position as a “printer’s devil” at the Litchfield Daily News, handling whatever task s he was assigned in the production department.21 The print trade appealed to him as a career choice. He also supervised the paper’s carrier force and sold subscriptions. Ray dropped out of Litchfield High School after a year or two and started work- ing full-time at Litchfield Printing and Stationery Co