He attended Ripon College, in Ripon Wisconsin, but family funds were insufficient to pay the bill without some contributions from young "Spike" himself. So he waited on table for his board, as countless hundreds of other Wisconsin boys have done since, but managed to participate in a surprising number of campus activities nevertheless. He played basketball, baseball, sang in the glee club, became a part of the college debating society, and even found the time to manage some college athletic activities. He finished his formal education by taking a law degree at the University of Wisconsin. Back in Mauston he was setting up his office and hanging out his shingle when the summons to American boys arising out of the World War came. He enlisted and served two years, the last six month in France, where arrived just after the Armistice. Out of that experience came offices in the American Legion and the DAV after the war. After armistice he taught law to remaining American soldiers who had the inclination to learn law at a camp in Gievres, France.
LL.B. degree from the Univ. of Wisconsin Law School (1917).
