Childhood
Orville Redenbacher was born on July 16, 1907 in Brazil, Indiana. Named after the famous aviator, Orville Wright, Redenbacher grew up on a small corn farm. From a very young age, Orville had a passion for popcorn. By the age of twelve, he was raising popcorn and selling it out of the back of his car. He sold this popcorn in fifty pound sacks to stores in local Brazil and Terre Haute, making himself a profit, which he partly stored away for college.
School
Redenbacher was the first in his family to attend high school. Neither of his parents, nor his two sisters or brother were able to go. It was clear throughout Redenbacher's school career that he was passionate about education and he was a very hard worker. So by the young age of thirteen, he was starting high school. In high school, Redenbacher was a part of National Honor Society, the Hi-Y, the science, mathematics, and agriculture clubs, 4-H club, and he also did four years of band and a year of orchestra.
4-H
At the age of eleven, Orville joined 4-H club, igniting his love of agriculture. Throughout high school, Orville was very involved in 4-H, becoming highly decorated and winning several championships and awards, as seen in the picture above. Once, Orville and his dairy judging team took the state championship in Indiana, landing them a place at nationals in Syracuse, New York. The team took seventh place overall, out of twenty teams. Orville himself won second place nationally in the individual dairy competition, making everyone back home in Indiana very proud of him.