Stewart's Years Growing Up
In 1920, Stewart Levi Udall was born into a Mormon family that had lived in St. Johns, Arizona, since the 1880s.
Stewart L. Udall's family heritage documented an important legacy of public service; his father (Levi Stewart Udall) was Chief Justice in the Arizona Supreme Court, and his grandtather (David King Udall) served in the Arizona State legislature.
Despite the fin-de-siécle LDS adopting a tacit policy of institutional racism--believing dark skin to be a curse upon the biblical patriarchs Cain and Ham and their descendants--Stewart's grandfather and parents eschewed racist rhetoric and policy. These values, and a love for the land on which they lived, passed on to the young Stewart and Morris Udall, both of whom would champion Civil Rights and environmental policy.
Stewart's college years were interrupted by the Second World War; He served four years in the Air Force as an enlisted gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber, flying fifty missions over Western Europe from Italy with the 736th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Group, for which he received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. Returning to the University of Arizona after the war, Stewart distinguished himself as an athlete and graduated with a law degree.
While at the University of Arizona, Stewart and Morris instigated the racial integration of the university cafeteria in 1947, simply by inviting Black freshman Morgan Maxwell Jr. to share their table; this very act, according to Morgan, calmed racist tensions on campus as both Udall brothers were respected student athletes and leaders. Stewart and Morris would continue their support of Civil Rights into their political careers in the state and federal government.
Stewart also met his wife of 55 years, Ermalee Web, at the University of Arizona. As wife of a U.S. Cabinet Secretary and mother of six children, "Lee" was devoted to her family and known as an advocate for the arts, particularly Native American art.