Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Ford
Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory, 301 Neal Metcalf Road, Enterprise, AL 36330Viewed: 2512
Posted by: MikeThompson
[email protected]
(334) 393-2273 or (334) 347-2517
Date: May 09 2016 8:48 PM
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Ford, 94 went to her eternal home on May 3, 2016. After three weeks’ illness, she died peacefully at the Hospice Home in Burlington, NC surrounded by her loving family.
Mrs. Ford was born October 7, 1921 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Laura and William Fisher, both deceased. She was the wife of Theodore A. Ford, who died October 6, 1980 after thirty years of military service. They met after her best friend, Mr. Ford’s sister, set them up on a blind date. She used to joke that she just couldn’t get rid of him after that. After 36 years as a widow, she has finally joined her beloved Ted.
To say that Mrs. Ford lived a full life would be an understatement. She married her first love, reared six children, prayed fervently for her seventeen grandchildren, and lived to meet thirteen of her great-grandchildren. She died knowing that she had loved her family well and that she was well loved in return. She was a woman of quiet strength and fortitude, which was best seen in the way she handled moving all around the world with six small children in tow. She used to say that people might think that was really something, but to her it was just life. She was also a woman of great love and kindness, which was most clearly seen in the evident pride she had in her family. Her grandchildren affectionately called her “Grandma,” “Grandma Ford,” and “Goodness.”
Betty, as those who were fortunate enough to know her well called her, graduated from St. Rosalia High School in 1940 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She was the wife of a career Army soldier, and she stood faithfully by her husband in postings such as Turkey, Puerto Rico, Germany, California, Kentucky, Colorado, and ultimately, Alabama. Their final move took them to Enterprise, Alabama where she lived for forty-two years before moving to Burlington, NC where she lived at the Brookdale Assisted Living home for two years.
Her life in Enterprise included volunteering with the local Helping Hands Ministry which provided clothes to families in need. She also served as a Eucharistic Minister at St. John’s Catholic Church where she was an active member. She could be found at St. John’s most mornings participating in daily mass and taking part in various Bible studies. In addition to her involvement in church and community activities, Mrs. Betty had a variety of hobbies which included going to lunch with friends, spending time with neighbors, reading, entertaining her family, and going on family excursions. She was also active in the lives of her children and grandchildren.
Mrs. Ford, or Mom as her children called her, is survived by her six children: oldest daughter Mary G. Ford Burgess and her husband Scott Burgess of Waco, Texas; youngest daughter Laura Ford Byrd and her husband Kenneth H. Byrd of Snow Camp, North Carolina; her oldest son William J. Ford of Mooresville, North Carolina; her second son Francis J. Ford and his wife Mary Ruth Ford of Taylorsville, Georgia; her third son Robert J. Ford of Atlanta, Georgia; and her youngest son John J. Ford and his wife Leatrice Ford of San Ramon, California.
Mary Elizabeth Ford, or Grandma as her grandchildren affectionately called her, lived everyday according to the exhortation found in Psalm 118: 24. She will be remembered fondly by her seventeen grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. She is survived by her brother John V. Fisher and his wife Mary Ann Fisher of Allison Park, Pennsylvania and her sister Regina Ann Fisher of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
She is preceded in death by her brothers William Fisher and Robert Fisher and by her sister Celine Bruewelheide. She is also preceded in death by her beloved grandson Theodore Andrew Ford.
Visitation will be held at 10:00 a.m. followed by the funeral service at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, at St. John’s Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Meadowlawn Cemetery in Enterprise, AL with Searcy Funeral Home directing.
The family would like to thank Sherry and Larry Eddins for years of friendship and support and for keeping the home place while Mrs. Betty was away.
Memorials can be made to the Hospice Home of Alamance County, 914 Chapel Hill Road, Burlington, N.C. 27215. Memorials can also be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center.
You may sign the register book or send condolences to the family at our website: www.searcyfuneralhome.com .
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