Don Blanding's father Hugh Ross Blanding was a judge and first commissioner for Indian Affairs, and his mother, Ida Kimble, helped found the Enid Public Library.
16 Facts About Don Blanding
1.
2.
Don Blanding trained between 1913 and 1915 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
3.
Don Blanding enlisted in the Canadian Army's 97th Battalion.
4.
Don Blanding then trained with them for trench warfare for eight months in 1916, but left under unknown circumstances a few days before the unit shipped out for Europe.
5.
Don Blanding became fascinated by Hawaii and moved there in 1915, staying until his enlistment in the US Army in December, 1917.
6.
Don Blanding was strongly affected by US entry into World War II, including the knowledge of his island paradise as a military target, the reactions of those he met on his lecture tours, and the fall of Bataan.
7.
Don Blanding served eleven months in the 1208th Service Corps Unit, Infantry, and was discharged as a corporal.
8.
Don Blanding wrote Pilot Bails Out about his experiences as a soldier.
9.
The popularity of these ad-poems led Don Blanding to follow the advice of newspaper colleagues by publishing a collection of his poetry in 1923.
10.
Don Blanding was nicknamed in the press as the "Vagabond Poet" and the "Poet Laureate of Aji-No-Moto".
11.
Don Blanding published his long poem "Vagabond's House" several times.
12.
From 1938 to 1942, Don Blanding designed Hawaiian themed tableware for Vernon Kilns, near Los Angeles, California.
13.
Don Blanding married socialite, Dorothy Binney Putnam, on June 13,1940, and they lived together in Fort Pierce, Florida.
14.
Don Blanding died of a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles on June 9,1957, at the age of 62.
15.
Kingfisher, Oklahoma's Don Blanding Avenue is named after the poet.
16.
In 1957 Kingfisher posthumously renamed Euclid Avenue after Don Blanding because he was born in a house at Euclid and Eighth.