Though she never sought personal praise in her daily walk, on April 28, 2019, Dorothy Helen (D.H.) Ford left this world for greater glories with her Heavenly Father. She was born to Allie Bryant (A.B.) and Frances Elizabeth Bowling on July 14, 1922. She married Walter Duke (Dick) Ford, Jr. on June 4, 1944, at Centenary Methodist Church in Lawton, OK. They had three sons, Steve, Bill and Joe who married Jane Beese, Chris Staats and Marilyn Griffeth, respectively. D.H. always referred to her daughters-in-law as her children. She spent her life serving others, reading voraciously, and bragging about her “six” children.
In their early years, she and Dick lived in Denver, Stillwater, and Lawton, finally retiring to the New Mexico mountains where they joined the Jemez Springs Community Presbyterian Church. Even after Dick passed away in 2004, she drove 60 miles one way every Sunday morning to attend church and sometimes play the organ. She continued her earlier higher education from Cameron University and Oklahoma City University in the 1940’s and received a bachelor’s degree in history and art history from the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) in 1986. A return to Oklahoma in 2010 connected her to many new friends at Epworth Villa Retirement Community and St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. A life of learning and of making and keeping friends brought her great joy and taught her family and many of those around her the value of nurturing life-long relationships.
She was preceded in death by her husband Dick, sister Lena Bowling Brockman, and one grandson, Cecil Bryan Ford. Immediate family members include Steve and Jane Ford; granddaughter Jenn (and husband Wayne) Grellner, with daughters Lizzie and Ellie; granddaughter Lisa (and husband Patrick) Buss, with sons Reid and Rylan; Bill and Chris Ford; Joe and Marilyn Ford; and granddaughters Karen and Katie.
D.H. loved cut flowers but she would have requested that any memorial gifts in her name be sent to the Jemez Springs Community Presbyterian Church, PO Box 97, Jemez Springs, NM 87025, or to the Scholarship Fund for the Assisted Living Staff at Epworth Villa in Oklahoma City, OK to provide assistance in furthering their training or education.
