Larkin C. Wood was born on April 2, 1909, in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. After graduating high school, he attended college at Montezuma College in Montezuma, New Mexico. He married Ora Lee Jones in 1934 and opened his welding shop in Santa Rosa. Later, he was employed by the US Government to build military bases in Clovis and Roswell, New Mexico, and La Junta, Colorado.
In 1944 he moved his family to Los Alamos, New Mexico where he began working with a welding crew. He worked at Los Alamos for three years and during this time he welded on the Atomic Bombs known as “Fat Man” and “Little Boy.” While working on the Manhattan Project he and his family resided in a Sunlit 4-bedroom apartment complex near the hospital, “up on the hill.”
After the war ended Larkin Wood and his family moved to Montana where he opened another welding shop, and they raised their 6 children. He retired at the age of 75. In his retirement, he enjoyed big game hunting and fishing until he passed away in 2004.