Delta Foster Ford

Delta and Katie married and moved from Shelbina, Missouri to a homestead in Montana. Their ranch failed, and so they moved further west to Ellensburg, Washington where Delta worked as a carpenter in the mines in Roslyn. Eventually, they moved west again to Tacoma, Washington where Delta started a fuel business, FORD FUEL. His business failed during the Depression, so he moved his family to University Place where he purchased land and started a peach orchard and where he and Katie prospered. They were active members of the University Place Presbyterian Church. Delta helped build it. He and Katie had six children: Foster, Francis, Melva, Grace, Helen and Jeanne. Delta loved to write and study in his library overlooking the Tacoma Narrows and the Olympics. He wrote poetry and a number of books, including Odyssey in a Model T Ford, a story of crossing the USA with his family before WWI in a Model T Ford. None were published. He and Katie were very proud of their French Huguenot blood. Both the Faures (FORD) and the Maupins (MAUPIN) were original families settling in what is now Richmond, VA in a French Huguenot community (MANAKINTOWNE) on the James River in 1700. They came over in the ship, The Mary and Anne, from England. The Widow Faure arrived with her children, among them Pierre from whom Delta's line derived. It is believed that the Widow Faure's husband had served with the French soldiers supporting the English king, William of Orange, and been killed, possibly at the Battle of the Boyne in what is now northern Ireland. Many of the French Huguenots came with William from Holland when he claimed the English throne. Some were given land in Virginia in thanks for their service. Delta was also proud of his Irish ancestry; Katie was also proud of her Scandinavian ancestry. He was a wonderful, considerate, hard-working man. Katie was quiet, reserved and displayed her love in understated ways: offering sugar cookies in an always full cookie jar to her grandchildren, as well as tea served in fine china on embroidered lace.