Vera Ford

Vera Davis Ford was remembered with love at funeral services Wednesday at Pentecostal Temple Institutional Church of God in Christ. "We talked about the funeral program, and somebody said we needed to get somebody on there who really loved her," said her son, City Council member James W. Ford. "But everybody really loved Vera." Mrs. Ford, 78, who had been hospitalized after a stroke on Feb. 21, died Saturday night. She was also the mother of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford of Memphis; state Sen. John Ford, who is also General Sessions Court Clerk; former state representative Emmitt Ford, and eight other children. Her husband, Newton J. Ford, died Sept. 13, 1986. Vice President Gore was among those who delivered tributes, and those attending the services included Gov. Ned McWherter, Lt. Gov. John Wilder and U.S. Sens. Jim Sasser and Harlan Mathews. Gore called Mrs. Ford "a woman of compassion, a woman of wisdom," and said he conveyed the condolences of the Clintons as well as his own. "She lived so that those who knew her, even slightly, thought it a privilege," he said. County Mayor Bill Morris sat near the front of the church, and Memphis Mayor W. W. Herenton was among the speakers. Herenton said he met Mrs. Ford before meeting her political sons and was struck by her beautiful smile. He said he admired her more as he got to know her children. Bishop J. O. Patterson Jr., pastor of Pentecostal Temple Institutional Church of God in Christ and a former state representative and City Council member, recalled a disagreement with Harold Ford. The disagreement made no difference to Mrs. Ford, who had invited him to dinner with the family, he said. "Mrs. Ford was a lovely lady, a great lady, and I will long remember the love and happiness she shared with all of us," he said. Rev. Benjamin Hooks, who retired as executive director of the NAACP, brought condolences from the national organization and the local branch. "She came from the back of the bus to the front of the bus and brought us with her," he said of Mrs. Ford. The program also included old friends little known to the public. "Some nights when the children were sleeping, Vera was washing," said Maggie Patterson, who lived on the same street as the Fords in their younger days. "And I never heard her say she was too tired to wash." Mrs. S. L. (Ida) Jones, an old friend, said she and Mrs. Ford spent hours visiting by telephone when they were young. Their favorite topic of conversation was their children, she said. Mrs. Ford and her husband met when they were employees at The Peabody, but for decades the family's income was from a funeral home, established in 1932. While her husband ran the business, Mrs. Ford focused on rearing their 12 surviving children. All graduated from Tennessee State University. The brief eulogy was by Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson, general board member of the Church of God in Christ. After praising Mrs. Ford's attention to her family, he said too many mothers today use drugs and alcohol. "You'll never get the strength of the Ford family out of what is going on today," he said. About 2,500 persons attended the services in the church at Linden and Danny Thomas. Rev. J. L. Netters, pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, presided. Burial was in Memorial Park. (Published in The Commercial Appeal 3/31/1994)