Rest In Play - 1990 thru 1999

Sam Walton, an American businessman best known for founding Walmart and Sam's Club, was born on March 29, 1918 and died on April 5, 1992 after a battle with blood cancer. Walmart is the world's larges...t corporation by revenue and the biggest private employer in the world. At one point, Sam was the richest person in the United States, and his family remains one of the richest families in the U.S. Sam Walton was the youngest Eagle Scout in the history of Missouri. In his adult life, he won the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Growing up in the Great Depression, he did a lot of chores and odd jobs to make ends meet. After graduating David H. Jickman High School, he went on to attend University of Missouri as an ROTC cadet. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1940, and served in the United States Army from 1942-1945. After leaving the military in 1945, Walton purchased a Ben Franklin variety store and became the manager. It was here that he learned many skills that became crucial to his success. The first true Walmart store opened on July 2, 1962, and was called the Wal-Mart Discount City store. At the time of his death in 1992, there were 1,960 Walmart stores. At the time of writing this (1/28/24) there are 10,500 stores. In 1998, Walton was included in Time's list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was honored for his work in retail in March 1992, when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H.W. Bush. From 1982-1988, Forbes ranked Sam as the richest person in the United States. At the University of Arkansas, the Business College (Sam. M Walton College of Business) is named after him. In 1992, Walton was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.Show more

Helen Herrick Malsed was born in 1910 and died on November 13, 1998. She was best known for her invention of the Slinky Dog. Helen was born in Cincinnati. In 1957, she invented and patented the Sl...inky Train and the Slinky Dog through James Industries. For 17 years, she earned between 60,000 and 70,000 in royalties for her creation. The Slinky Dog came to be when her son, Rick, got a slinky for Christmas. After some tinkering around, she created the Slinky Dog by attaching plastic heads and tails to the slinky, adding wheels for mobility and a piece of string to pull it around. James Industries, a Pennsylvania company, bought the idea from her, and since it has been extremely popularized by its appearance in Toy Story.Show more

Alfred M. Butts, born on April 13, 1899, passed away on April 4, 1993. Most famously known for inventing the board game Scrabble in 1938, Alfred originally named the game Criss Cross Words. Alfred was... also an architect with a degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and an amateur artist, with six of his drawings having been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Show more

1895-1990 The doll play we know today—we owe to Madame Alexander. Madame’s earliest contribution was inspired by her time spent as a young girl in her stepfather’s doll hospital, where she sa...w many beautiful porcelain dolls in constant repair. During a time when breakable, porcelain dolls were the standard, she fashioned a cloth doll that was meant to be both beautiful and played with. But that was just the beginning. Madame brought to life literary characters and notable people in a way not previously done before. An era of toy industry firsts cemented her legacy as the mother of modern doll play. Read full story here https://madamealexander.com/about-us/about-madame/Show more