(http://www.woodyguthrie.org/biography.htm)
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born July 14, 1912, in Okemah Oklahoma, an oil boomtown. While growing up, his mother had a strong influence on him. After his sister Clara died and the oil craze died down, he left. He married Mary Jennings in Texas in 1933 and, after the Great Dust storm in 1935, left for California. There he experienced his first real success as a musician, with his music being played on various radio stations in the area. In 1939 he went to New York where he was embraced by the many left-wing groups there. He became very popular but left because, as he writes, "I got disgusted with the whole sissified and nervous rules of censorship on all my songs and ballads, and drove off down the road across the southern states again." He married Marjorie Mazia in 1945 and had four children, Cathy, who died at age four, Arlo, Joady, and Nora Lee. During World War II, he did his part to fight facism by joining the Merchant Marine and, later, the Army. In 1954 he was diagnosed with Huntington's Chorea and admitted himself to the hospital. After bouncing around hospitals for over ten years, he died in 1967 while at Creedmore State Hospital in Queens, New York at the age of 55.
Woody Guthrie was a man of faith because he took a strong stance and refused to compromise his beliefs for more money or better recognition. A lifelong outspoken enemy of facism, his songs reflect his feelings that, despite the ever-present threat of evil, goodness will always prevail. He was always practicing what he preached by never missing an opportunity to fight facism both inside and outside of the country. Woody Guthrie is truly a model of faith.