Today we celebrate the 97th birthday of Donald Lee Woodard Sr.!

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In the 1930 census of Eureka township, Wayne County: farm laborer Marcelius Woodard, 36; wide Adlonia, 26, farm laborer; sons Andrew, 6, Roscoe, 5, Donie L., 3, and Kelvin [Calvin], 1; and boarders Leslie Malone, 30, farm laborer, and Nannie Hastings, 48.

In the 1940 census of Faison township, Duplin County, N.C.: farmer Marcellus Woodard, 46; wife Adlonia, 35; and children Andrew 17, Rosker, 15, Donie, 13, Calvin, 11, Rosevelt, 9, Mary, 7, Margree, 4, and Jessie James, 5 months.

In 1944, Donald Lee Woodard registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County.

On 28 December 1949, Donald Lee Woodard, 22, of Walstonsburg, married Hazel Artis, 20, of Stantonsburg in Wilson, Wilson County.

In the 1950 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: hired farm laborer Clinton Artis, 50; wife Mattie, 45; children Charles E., 19, lumber company laborer, Appie Louise, 17, cook, Constance B., 15, maid, William H., 13, Cleveland O., 10, Harley M., 7, Douglas, 5, Lois Jean, 3, and Carolyn E., 2; daughter Mary Hazel Woodard, 21; son-in-law Donald Woodard, 23, lumber company employee; and granddaughter Brenda Joyce Woodard, 1.

Many thanks to Portia Newman for sharing this joyful photo of her grandfather. We wish him so many more fantastic birthdays!