Television Personality, Automobile Dealer.  Worthington landed his first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour, joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at the age of 15 and later served as a second Lieutenant in the United States Army in World War II, flying for the Army Air Corps. During the war he flew 29 missions over Germany and was discharged after the war as a captain and was awarded the Air Medal five times. He was also a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he began to sell used cars in front of the post office in Corpus Christi, Texas by making a folksy pitch to people who stopped to pick up their mail. He moved to a dirt lot he rented for $25, where he made a $500 profit one week by selling three cars. By this point, he decided that this would be his career. In 1949,he moved to Huntington Park, California, and became a Ford dealer with 1 minute and 30 second commercials. By the 1970s, Worthington’s commercials could be seen breaking into old movies overnight, from midnight to 6 o’clock which he livened up with the first of his ‘Dog Spot’ ads, a gorilla that roared. The response was so positive that a new campaign was born, featuring ‘Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!’  Among the many creatures that were featured as “Spot” were a killer whale, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller-skating chimpanzee and a hippopotamus. In addition to his California auto dealership, he went on to own nearly 30 more in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Washington. (bio by: Louis M.)  Family links:  Parents:  Benjamin F. Worthington (1873 – 1956)  Vidella C. Worthington (1888 – 1965)  Sibling:  Benjamin N. Worthington (1906 – 1938)*  Cal Worthington (1920 – 2013) *Calculated relationship