Editing Bob Barker (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Robert (Bob) Barker - South Dakota's Indian Census Roll; April 1, 1930.jpg|thumb|Recorded as Robert Barker in the Indian Census Roll, 1930]]

Robert William Barker was born on December 12, 1923, in [[Darrington, Washington]], and spent most of his youth on the [[Rosebud Indian Reservation]] in [[Mission, South Dakota]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Severo |first=Richard |date=August 26, 2023 |title=Bob Barker, Longtime Host of 'The Price Is Right,' Dies at 99 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/26/arts/television/bob-barker-dead.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=August 26, 2023}}</ref> The U.S. Indian Census Rolls, 1885–1940, list Barker as a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which the tribe publicly confirmed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert (Bob) Barker – South Dakota's Indian Census Roll April 1, 1930|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_(Bob)_Barker_-_South_Dakota%27s_Indian_Census_Roll;_April_1,_1930.jpg|access-date=June 25, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Bob Barker's legacy stretched in, out of Indian Country |language=en |work=ICT News |url=https://ictnews.org/news/bob-barkers-legacy-stretched-in-out-of-indian-country- |access-date=2023-09-11}}</ref> His mother, Matilda ("Tillie") Valandra (née Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a schoolteacher; his father, Byron John Barker, was the foreman on the electrical high line through the state of Washington. As Barker's father was one-quarter [[Sioux]],<ref name="1962 AP article">{{cite news |title=The Truth Is—He's Proud of His Indian Blood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93129234/article-on-bob-barker-1962/ |access-date=January 21, 2022 |work=Argus-Leader |agency=Associated Press |date=March 25, 1962 |page=17|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> and his mother non-Native, Barker was one-eighth Sioux.<ref>{{cite web|last=Axelrod |first=Laura |title=Book Review: Priceless Memories by Bob Barker with Digby Diehl |website=lauraaxelrod.net |url=http://www.lauraaxelrod.net/2009/03/book-review-priceless-memories-by-bob-barker-with-digby-diehl.html |access-date=October 23, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018105421/http://www.lauraaxelrod.net/2009/03/book-review-priceless-memories-by-bob-barker-with-digby-diehl.html |archive-date=October 18, 2015 }}</ref> Barker attended the grade school on the Rosebud Reservation where his mother was a teacher.<ref name="1962 AP article" /> Barker once said, "I've always bragged about being part Indian, because they are a people to be proud of. And the Sioux were the greatest warriors of them all."<ref name="1962 AP article" />

Barker met his future wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, at an [[Ella Fitzgerald]] concert while he was attending high school in Missouri; they began dating when he was 15.<ref name="marriage">{{cite web |last1=S |first1=Asmita |title=The Price is Right's Bob Barker Honored His Late Wife on Her 36th Death Anniversary in This Touching Way Despite Poor Health |url=https://her.womenworking.com/bob-barker-wife-death-anniversary-tribute-grave |website=Women Working |access-date=August 8, 2020 |date=September 26, 2017}}</ref> Barker attended Drury College (now [[Drury University]]) in [[Springfield, Missouri]], on a basketball [[athletic scholarship]].<ref name="Biography"/> He was a member of the Epsilon Beta chapter of [[Sigma Nu]] [[Fraternities and sororities|fraternity]] at Drury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sigmanu.org/about/famous_sigmanus.php |title=Famous Sigma Nus |publisher=Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc. |access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> Barker joined the [[United States Navy Reserve]] in 1943 during [[World War II]] to train as a fighter pilot but did not serve in combat. On January 12, 1945, while on leave from the military, Barker married Dorothy Jo.<ref name="marriage"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Birthday boy Bob Barker fast facts |url=https://www.wral.com/birthday-boy-bob-barker-fast-facts/18829701/ |publisher=WRAL |access-date=August 8, 2020 |date=December 12, 2019}}</ref> After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating ''[[summa cum laude]]'' with a degree in economics.<ref name="Biography"/>