Growing up in Bakersville

Bruce Ledford was born on September 13, 1941 in the town of Bakersville, a small community in the mountains of western North Carolina. He was born to Jess and Dona Ledford. Bruce had 3 brothers, Ted, Darrel and Lee Roy.

Ted, Darrel, Bruce and Lee Roy

The family of 6 was a modest family who lived at the head of White Oak in a little two bedroom home. They did not have alot but the two things they did have, was each other and the desire for an education.

The story I remember being told as a child was that when Dona (pronounced doe-na) was pregnant with Bruce, she really wanted a girl. But, she had another boy, Bruce. Since she didn't have a girl, she decided to let Bruce's hair grow long and dress him in cute clothes. She always wanted a little girl but ended up with 4 boys.

Dona was affectionately known to the boys as "Doanie Mama". My understanding of how the nickname Doanie Mama came to be was when dad was a pre-teen, there was a rock-n-roll song that mentioned something about a wild mama. Dona did not like this song very much. One day, I believe it was my dad, changed the lyrics of the song to include my grandmothers name... Doanie Mama. I do not think she was very fond of this but from that point on, the boys started calling her Doanie Mama - and the name stuck.

Doanie Mama is on the far left

Jess was a hard worker. He did everything he could to provide for his family. At one point, the family moved to New York. This was a big change from living in Bakersville North Carolina. The boys did what they could in NY to provide for themselves. For example, if they wanted to see a movie, the family could not afford it. So the boys would stand outside the theater and their friends who were from NY, would tell the "yankees", if you pay - the mountain boys will say something for you. Apparently, the New Yorkers wanted to hear what these little mountain boys sounded like, so they would pay. The money made was used to get into the movie theater. Eventually, the family moved back to Bakersville.

- Jess - Painted by Bruce Ledford

The brothers grew up and all of them went on to college. Some obtained a Bachelors degree and some even went on to obtain a Masters and even their Doctorates. Each brother married and started a family of their own.