Jerry W. Ford was raised on a farm by his loving grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ford in Bosco ,Louisiana. The children of the Ford family thought of him as their brother. He loved the pigs, horses, cows and the other animals on the farm. He often talked about his horse "Ole Pal" , and he would boast about the large amount of cotton that he could pick in a day .
He received his elementary education in Bosco, LA and his junior high and high school years were spent at Richwood High School in Richwood, LA. Jerry loved to tell of his football days at Richwood. He was a superstar player and as he grew older, football became one of his passing Fantasies . He always wanted his son to play football, but his son opted not to do so ; however, his son developed a love for the sport later in life, and is now a high school assistant coach of football, (like father, like son) .
After a two year tour in the U.S. Army , he returned to Grambling State University, where he received a B.S. Degree and worked on a M.A. Degree. He met and married La vargne Gunn in 1975 and they had 2 children , Jerry Patrick and Elizabeth Rose.
He was a teacher at Jefferson ,Jr. High and was also empoyed at the News Star. His hobbies included watching all kinds of sports and yard gardening. It seems that he had a green thumb,because everything that he touched in the yard would flourish. Many of his off days from work, he would work almost the entire day in his yard. When most of the yards on the street were brown during the hot days, his seemed to have been emerald green all during the summer. I am sure that we had the highest water bill around, because Jerry would water the lawn every day, in the early morning and the late night. The flowers in the yard were beautiful, many he got from relatives in Bosco. On many visits, he and his aunts would pass time looking at the flowers and sharing ideas of what could be added to enhance the yard.
Moving back to Bosco was Jerry's dream, but I never had a desire to move from the city. I guess you couldn't take country living from Jerry, but farm life was not the life for me.
Memories, I will forever remember the good and bad times that we had together. Also the dreams and plans that we shared but were never fulfilled .
I will never forget Jerry saying each night at bed time, " I love you Vern".
Tonight I say: "Good night Jerry, I miss you and I will always love you".
October 10, 2014
Two days after the 1st Anniverary of the death of Jerry Woodrow Ford
