Local musician Jerry Ford honored for contributions to the arts

When listing Jerry Ford's contributions to the arts in Southeast Missouri, the trouble isn't with creating the list, but paring it down.

It's a problem Murielle Gaither, executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, had when she and Wendy Rust were nominating him for the 2017 Missouri Arts Award, which he will receive Feb. 8 in the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.

"When I was trying to figure out what to include in the nomination letter, it was more like trying to figure out what not to include," Gaither said.

"His contributions to the community and to the Arts Council ... have been so numerous."

When they selected Ford for the award, the Missouri Arts Council (MAC) was tasked with summarizing his accomplishments.

"The biographies for the website were supposed to be 250 words, but I was stuck wondering, 'How do I condense this guy?'" said Barbara MacRobie, public-information coordinator for MAC.

The Missouri Arts Awards are designed to celebrate people, organizations and communities making a lasting impression in the state's arts and culture.

Winners can fall into six categories: arts education, arts organization, creative community, individual artist, leadership in the arts and philanthropy.

Ford is being recognized as an individual artist.

Ford's resume of artistic contributions spans more than 50 years.

"He's been providing a beat and a rhythm to the culture of Cape Girardeau for over half a century," Rust wrote in her nomination letter.

Ford joined the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band in 1957 as a sophomore in high school. He continues to play with the band and serves as its unofficial manager.

In 1960, he started the Jerry Ford Orchestra, which plays as a full group and also in split factions as a jazz combo, patriotic brass band, German band and Dixieland band.

He is a board member with the Cape River Heritage Museum, the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and the Music Academy at Southeast Missouri State University. For 16 years, he served on the board of managers for the university's River Campus.

His orchestra has played in the capitol rotunda for two governors' inaugural balls, and his bands have played for fundraisers throughout the area.

Nomination letters from community members recall personal impacts Ford made, from monetary donations to the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band to securing a music scholarship for a young college student.

"It's not just the community," Gaither said. "He has literally affected people's lives on a personal level"

"He was worthy," Rust said of her decision to nominate him, recounting how his brass band performs at veterans events and his Dixieland band greets the paddlewheel boats as they arrive in Cape Girardeau. "He just makes our whole lives joyful."

Along with his music career, Ford is an author, with two published books to his name.

Outside of his artistic contributions, Ford has spent time in Jefferson City, lobbying for the families of people with disabilities and serving two terms as state representative of the 156th District.

His frequent proximity to the capitol and his enthusiasm for the arts have allowed him to attend the Missouri Arts Awards on more than one occasion.

"I've attended almost all of them, and I've seen all the people who got the award," Ford said. "It makes it that much more special to me."

Honored by the announcement, Ford said it wasn't something he was expecting, and he is humbled by all the people who came together to nominate him.

"This is obviously the pinnacle of my music career," Ford said.

"He's provided a soundtrack to life in Missouri for the last 50 years," Gaither said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

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