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Life
Sketch
Gordon
“Gus” Nilsson Ford
By Loni
LaVee Ford Winn, his Daughter
Gordon Ford, only son of
John and Ada Ford was born in the bedroom of his parent’s home on October 11,
1932 in Raymond Alberta Canada.
His sister Shirley was four years older and sister Marilyn was 2 years
younger. They lived right next
door to his mother’s parents and had many cousins to play with.
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| This is the only picture I have of dad as a baby. |
Dad seemed to be a healthy
baby but when he was a year old he began getting sick. His mother was afraid that each
grasping breath would be his last. Finally when dad was about five years old
his mother could not face another winter worrying about her only son. So she sold her dearly loved piano and
drove with a friend to a factory in Detroit Michigan and bought a new 1937
Nash. The family doctor had
suggested a different climate might help her son breathe easier. His mother loved her piano but her
son’s health was more important to her.
So Dad’s family loaded up
the car and headed to the United States.
They spent a couple of days in Spokane but then decided to go to
Wenatchee. They lived there a
short time when Dad’s father was offered a job in Cashmere, Washington about 15
miles away. They bought a new
three-bedroom house which soon became home. Dad had many fond memories in this house. One of his favorite childhood memories
was when all three kids received tricycles for Christmas. A cute picture of Dad and his sister
Marilyn riding one of those tricycles is displayed in the other room, you can
see how happy there were.
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| Marilyn & Gordon |
They only lived in
Cashmere a few months when times got hard and Dad’s father was laid off at the
garage where he worked, since he was the newest employee. The family then moved back to Wenatchee
where they rented a house. It was
really hard to get work in Washington, so early that next summer John took the
train to Ogden, Utah to look for work there. Fortunately he found work and went back to get his family
and moved them to Ogden Utah.
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| John & Ada Ford with their children Marilyn, Shirley & Gordon. |
Dad was still sick during
the winters and his mother, who was a little over protective kept him home from
school a lot. As a result he spent
much of his time repairing things, just like his father. When he was 14, Dad and a couple of
friends repaired an old car and had a wonderful time driving up and back down
the long driveway. From then on
school was not as important to dad as fixing up things, especially cars.
(During my childhood years there was always a sports car that dad was fixing
up. As kids we would anxiously
wait for the car to be finished so we could go for a ride, but it was short
lived because someone always wanted the car so he would sell it and then look
for another fixer upper.)
During Dad’s high school
years his favorite sandwich was a cheese sandwich. He liked it grilled but for lunch he would eat a plain
cheese sandwich. Because of this
his friends nicknamed him Gus, after Gus Gus the mouse in Cinderella.
When the Korean Conflict
arose Dad enlisted in the Navy. During his service he received several medals
and stars. The United Nations
Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He participated in the Battle of ToKo-Ri (Which by the way a
movie was made of) and received The Korean Service Medal with two stars. While in the Navy he also sailed to
many exotic countries. While in
Japan he purchased some lovely eggshell china that I have on display in my
china hutch at home.
After he received an
honorable discharge from the Navy he lived in California for a while but then
returned to Ogden Utah to find work.
He not only found work but found a beautiful young girl from Beaver Utah
attending Weber State college who soon became his wife. Gordon Ford and LaVee Harris were
married on March 21, 1958. They had three children. I am the oldest and only daughter and then Larry is two
years younger than me and Kevin is five years younger.
Dad worked at Hill Air
Force Base for 31 years and he held several positions, one of which was an
Electronic Technician. At the time
he retired he was an Equipment Specialist on F-16 Fighter Jets. When I was young I asked him what he
did for a living and all he would say is it is top secret. I remember wondering if he was a spy or
secret agent.
Dad was a very friendly
man and made friends easily. He
joined several different organizations like the Elks, Eagles and American Legion. He was a member of the Sunset Chapter
of the Jaycees for several yeas and during that time also served as President.
This organization would look for opportunities to serve and better the
community. One of the projects
that Dad organized while President was to paint house numbers on the curbs so
that police and fire fighters could find homes easily in case of an emergency.
Dad liked to have fun. For
several years we went to Bear Lake a couple of times each summer. Dad spent a lot of time driving his
boat and pulling other skiers. But
when it was his time to ski we would all stop what we were doing and just watch
him. He loved to water ski and was
extremely good. I can still
picture him. Dad preferred to ski
with just one ski, he would start from the beach, with a cigarette in his
mouth, one hand holding the line and the other hand holding a beer, wearing
shorts, a tan colored hat and sunglasses.
He would ski around the lake and when it was time to go back he would
ski right up to the beach, drop his ski and walk up the bank. Very seldom did he even get wet.
As a family we belonged to
a group called the Jackalopes.
This was a group of families that would plan camping and boating trips
together. On the back of each families camper was a picture of a Jackalope.
During the summer months we would go camping or boating almost every
weekend. There would usually be
6-10 campers caravanning together to a camping spot. The kids would spend most of their time hiking and riding
motorcycles, while the parents played cards, visited and cooked lots of
delicious food. We even had a
family yell for when they wanted us to come back to camp. “Hip-da-miniga,
haha-ga-saw-ya, boom-da-la-ha you who.”
Some of our favorite trips were when we went to Mesa Verde, Denver and
Mexico.
A few weeks ago I asked my
dad what he wanted to be remembered for most. His reply was ”not what I accomplished, but for what we did
as a family.” We certainly had some
fun times.
Dad also liked doing
carpentry work. In 1973 he started
building our home in Kaysille, Utah.
It took him about one year to finish it. He also built his current home in Overton, Nevada. He
patterned it after the home his parents had built in Paradise California.
Dad retired and moved to
Overton with his wife Donna. They
were married about 13 years. Dad
loved Overton and spent his time tinkering around the house, doing small engine
repairs, fishing, boating and going to “the office” every day. I was surprised when I learned “the
office” meant the Roster or the Sportsman. Dad loved going into town and visiting with all his
friends. He loved Overton so much
that we couldn’t convince him to move back to Utah to be closer to his family.
That finally happened 10
weeks ago when we moved Dad to Orem Utah to an Assisted Living Home. He hoped it would be for only a few
months but after getting sick in March things just snowballed. He had one medical problem after
another.
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| Last Family Picture, Kevin, Gordon, Larry & Loni |
I am so grateful for the
opportunity I had to spend so much time with my father these last few
months. I watched him reach out
and make new friends not only with the residents, but also those who worked
there. I had one worker tell me she has never been so attached to a new
resident so fast. The cleaning
lady would come in each morning and make him a special cup of coffee because
she enjoyed being around him so much.
He had a way of making people feel comfortable around him. He always had a story to share and his
quirky comments would get everyone around him laughing. He was always happy no matter the
circumstance and truly cared about others. I never heard Dad complain about anything even the last few
weeks when he was in an extreme amount of pain. I would have to plead with him to let me know how much pain
he was really in so that we could give him the correct medication and relieve
some of the pain. There was one
resident who mentioned to dad that she was always in pain too. So dad started hiding his pain
medication for her. That didn’t go
over well with the nurses. Thank goodness he was never able to give her any.
Last Thursday I received a
call from Dad’s hospice nurse, Jaclyn telling me she didn’t think he would make
it through the night. I called my
brothers on my way to be with Dad.
Kevin and his wife Don immediately left there home in Clearfield and
came to be with him too. Larry and
Layna started making plans so they could leave Washington the next
morning. They had already said
their goodbyes to Dad so I reassured Dad that it was okay to leave us. That we would be fine. Dad hung on all that night and even
seemed to be getting better.
Kevin, Don and Jaclyn his nurse stayed until about 2:00 am and then went
home. I stayed and spent the night
with Dad. The next day his fever broke and he rested peacefully. Saturday morning the family took turns
visiting Dad. That night about 7:00 when all three of us kids and our spouses
were sitting around watching a video of Dad he peacefully slipped away. I feel he was just waiting around until
all of his kids were there with him.
I know he loved us so very much.
Dad had time to reflect on
his life and there were many things he regretted and wished he could change,
and hoped we could forgive him, but he also talked about all the good times he
had. I hope you are continuing to
have good times.
I love you Dad!
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