Early Years
Bledsoe was born on November 12, 1921 on a little farm near Maysville, Oklahoma. His father, Thomas, had run a turpentine plantation in Alabama, but in 1917, a fire burned him out. He moved to Oklahoma to try his luck at farming. Woody was the fourth child born to Thomas’s second wife Eva, his first wife having died after raising six children. Early on, Bledsoe was enthralled by mathematics and recalls spending “hours just roaming around, sometimes working mathematics problems mentally” (Bledsoe 1976). He graduated from high school during that year (1939). He enrolled at the University of Oklahoma in the spring of 1940. In April, he left the university and joined the United States Army.
Bledsoe joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an adult, and served in the church as a Bishop, counselor to the Stake Presidency, and Stake Patriarch. He also served as a leader in the Boy Scouts of America.
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Famous quotes related to early years:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)