Spinner grew up in Decatur, Illinois, the daughter of a pipe fitter and a schoolteacher. He was also a lens-grinder, stonecutter, button maker, tinsmith, printer, pipe fitter, joiner, and blacksmith. Jerry is a complete handyman, gunsmith, mechanic, certified welder, pipe fitter, and machinist. In 1916, he began working as pipe fitter and foreman at the Fore River Shipyard. He was an apprentice pipe fitter in Missouri then moved to Chicago, Illinois.