Editing Jonathan Winters (section)

==Early life==
Winters was born in [[Dayton, Ohio]], to Alice Kilgore Rodgers and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, <!-- Do not change to Jr., he was named after his grandfather   --> an insurance agent who later became an investment broker.<ref name="film reference" /><ref name="beverly" /> He was a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in [[Dayton, Ohio]]. Of [[English people|English]] and [[Scottish-Irish American|Scottish-Irish]] ancestry,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Jt0hg_6uc | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418073836/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Jt0hg_6uc&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2013-04-18 | url-status=dead|title=The LLS w/ Craig Ferguson 9/1/08 -5 of 7 Jonathan Winters |publisher=YouTube |date=September 2, 2008 |access-date=April 15, 2013}}</ref> Winters had described his father as an alcoholic who had trouble holding a job. His grandfather, a frustrated [[comedian]], owned the Winters National Bank, which failed as the family's fortunes collapsed during the [[Great Depression]].{{cn|date=June 2024}}

When he was seven, his parents separated. Winters' mother took him to [[Springfield, Ohio|Springfield]], Ohio, to live with his maternal grandmother.<ref name="Huffingtonpost obit" /><ref name="Happier Days" /> "Mother and dad didn't understand me; I didn't understand them," Winters told [[Jim Lehrer]] on ''[[PBS NewsHour|The News Hour with Jim Lehrer]]'' in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://parade.condenast.com/154823/dotsonrader/robin-williams-discusses-his-first-experience-with-alcoholics-anonymous/|title=Robin Williams Discusses His First Experience with Alcoholics Anonymous|author=Parade|work=Parade|date=September 12, 2013|access-date=October 20, 2014}}</ref> "So consequently it was a strange kind of arrangement." Alone in his room, he created characters and interviewed himself. A poor student, Winters continued talking to himself and developed a repertoire of strange sound effects. He often entertained his high school friends by imitating a race at the [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway]].<ref name="Boston Globe obit" />

In another television interview, Winters described how deeply he was hurt by his parents' divorce. He fought youthful tormentors who ridiculed him for not having a father in his life. When the tormentors were not around, he would go to a building or tree and weep in despair. Winters said that he learned to laugh at his situation but admitted that his adult life had been a response to sorrow.<ref>{{cite book |author=James Dobson |author-link=James Dobson |title=What wives wished their husbands knew about women |publisher=[[Wheaton, Illinois|Wheaton]], [[Illinois]]: Tyndale House Publishers |year=1975 |page=167 |isbn=0-8423-7890-1}}</ref>

During his senior year at [[South High School (Springfield, Ohio)|Springfield High School]], Winters [[Dropping out|quit school]], joined the [[U.S. Marine Corps]] at the age of seventeen and served {{frac|2|1|2}} years in the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="beverly"/><ref name="Corps Stories" /><ref name="Springfield News Sun" /> Upon his return, he attended [[Kenyon College]]. He later studied [[cartoonist|cartooning]] at [[Dayton Art Institute]], where he met Eileen Schauder, whom he married on September 11, 1948. He was a brother of the [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity (Lambda chapter).