RALPH L. FORD

Funeral service for Ralph L. Ford, 3124 Kage Road, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Westminster Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Miles White will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park.

Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today.

Ford, 65, died Monday, July 12, 1993, on his farm at Oak Ridge.

He was born May 24, 1928, at Oak Ridge, son of Lloyd and Arta Crites Ford. He and Doris Ludwig were married May 5, 1951, at Jackson.

Ford received degrees in science, math and social studies from Southeast Missouri State University in 1949. He received a master's degree in administration from SIU-Carbondale in 1957, and later received a master's degree in math and guidance counseling.

He taught two years at Bernie High School, two years at Sikeston High School, and from 1954-86 at Cape Girardeau Public Schools. He was the former head of Missouri State Teachers Association.

He was in the Naval Reserve, and then served two years in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

Ford was a deacon and elder at Westminster Church, member of Altenthal-Joerns American Legion Post at Jackson, past member of Jaycees and Cape Choraliers.

He recently completed a term with the Missouri University Extension Council. He was a former chairman of Cape County Republican Central Committee, a member of the Republican State Committee, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1992.

Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Jennie Burford of Rogers, Ark., Jo Lynne Ford of the home; a brother, Dean Ford of Oak Ridge; a sister, Mary Belle Niswonger of Cape Girardeau, and a grandson.