Lena Mae Bunch Townsend Bradley was born in Wilson County, North Carolina, July 20, 1929 to Adelina Bunch and James Henry Bynum. She lived there until the age of five, at which time she moved to Kenly, North Carolina, in Johnson County, attending the city public grade school from the first to the sixth grade. She attended high school in Selma, North Carolina and graduated in 1950. She stayed with an aunt in D.C. during the summers starting in 1946, getting a job taking care of a wealthy older White woman in the community, and after graduating she stayed in the city, becoming a beautician, joining Second Baptist Church in 1953 and marrying in 1956. She participated in beauty competitions and won awards, traveling extensively with her husband, all the while remaining a member of Second Baptist for over sixty-seven years.