One of my 6th grade daughter's first assignments is to do a book report on someone "Famous who shares your birthdate"; her birthday is also August 22 (1991) and she chose Ray Bradbury. Some of the questions she has to research and answer are:
1) . . . any brothers or sisters?
2) . . . name of parents?
3) . . . Name of Schools you attended?
4) . . . what are your hobbies?

Would appreciate any answers to these 4 questions and time is of the essence, if possible, as the report is due 9/23/02. Thank you for any help at all.

Brothers and sisters: Leonard "Skip" (1916-?) and Samuel (1916-1918), identical twins, four years older. Samuel died at age two. Elizabeth, (1926-1927) six years younger, died of pneumonia at age one. Ray said he had to visit half his family in the cemetery by age seven. Interestingly, he had to visit them at unmarked graves! The general locations are in the record book mentioned in the poem, "Their Names in Dust, Their Dates in Grass," in which Ray describes visiting the graves as an adult, but strange to say, no one (as of 1984 anyway) ever marked the graves!

Parents: Leonard Spaulding Bradbury (1890-1957) and Esther Marie Moberg (1888-1966). The Bradburys go clear back to the 1600s in America; a direct ancestor was threatened in the witch trials. The Mobergs were recent immigrants; Ray's mother was born in Sweden in 1888, immigrated in 1890, and attended school in Waukegan. Jack Benny was a classmate.

Schools attended:
--Central School, Waukegan, Illinois, was his main school from 1926-1934.
Strange to say, the Bradburys stopped briefly in Roswell, New Mexico, but not long enough for Ray to attend school there, or for the aliens to catch up with him, arriving over 20 years too late.
--Roskruge Grammar School, Tucson, Arizona, fall 1926-Spring 1927.
--1927-1932 Central School.
--Amphitheater School, Tucson, Arizona, 1932.
--Roskruge Grammar School, Tucson, Arizona, January-May 1933. It was while in Tucson he became best friends with John Huff.
--Central School, Waukegan, Illinois, in May, 1933, after moving back.
--April, 1934, moved to Los Angeles. Attended Berendo Junior High, September 1934-June 1935.
--September 1935-June 1938, Los Angeles High School.
The family was so poor that Ray had no room in their house in Waukegan. He and his brother slept in the living room on a foldout bed. His graduation suit was the same one his uncle was wearing when murdered. They had cleaned off the blood but couldn't afford to pay a tailor to fix the hole, so Ray wore that very hole to graduation. (See "In His Words" about how he missed his uncle's wake to ask Mr. Electrico how to "live forever." His uncle, Samuel Hinkston Bradbury, Jr., must have been the one who was murdered, in Waukegan, probably after they moved back in 1933. I don't have more specific information about the date or about whether his grave is marked.)
High school was the end of Ray's formal schooling. He has stated he doesn't believe in college for writers (a debate I won't go into here) but also said in an interview, "There wasn't money for me to go to college," indicating he at least thought of it. After that he went to the library, as he had since childhood, and read everything he could. He graduated himself from the library at the age of 28, which would have been around 1948, at which time he was a pivotal member of a local writer's group including some of the most illustrious names in Science Fiction--certainly a more than adequate substitute for college!

Hobbies, well, there's a good question. Don't know if he'd count reading as a hobby as it was so connected to writing. He never went in big for sports, and has enjoyed painting, drawing, comic books, and movies.

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 09-12-2002).]

Again, thank you. Now for the really big question, how do you know so much? You're very informative and knowledgeable, and I'm so happy to have checked this site!

Yes, Dandelion's incite is always "dandy!"
We are fortunate to have her as our moderator!

Here's one more item:::::

Grandparents:::
Minnie Davis Bradbury and
Samuel H. Bradbury

To: Dandelion::: Who was Bion?

Hope this works.
Scroll to the right of the page for a Bradbury Chronicles:

click on:
http://www.geocities.com/rtimko_1/English_Litera/Page_6x.html

You're too kind. Most of my information comes from William F. Nolan's "Ray Bradbury Companion" and the rest from personal research. According to the family portrait, Samuel and Minnie had only four children: Leonard (Ray's father), Samuel, Bion, and Neva. I'm quite sure Bion was not the uncle who was shot, as I talked to an elderly neighbor who remembered him well, mentioned Bion playing record albums. Nothing about an early or violent death. So, Samuel must have been the one shot. I don't know whether Ray's mother had any brothers besides Einar, who lived many more years.