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Submitted: 4/19/15 • Approved: 5/13/15 • Last Updated: 5/13/15 • R7561-G0
Ford was born in Franklin, West Viriginia. Growing up during the great depression, times were hard on the family and the family moved 14 times while he was growing up. Though moving a lot he managed to become an Eagle Scout. Part of his youth was spend in Michigan where his father owned a business. In those days,Michigan issued drivers licenses at age 14 and because of family hardship, he had to drive from Michigan to Baltimore on his own with this 12 year brother. After settling in Baltimore, things became more stable and he graduated from Catonsville high school in 1942. Immediately after high school, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force where he learned to pilot many types of planes during WWII. One of his jobs during war time was flying search missions of the North Atlantic looking for Nazi submarines. He was famous for his appetite in the RCAF and the mess hall at his base was named Waggoner's Haven for many years. After the war, he married Betty Jean Mabry on August 31, 1946 in West Baltimore Methodist Church. He continued to fly his private plane, a Piper Cub, until 1954 when the first of four children came along. Once while flying his Piper Cub in 1952, he got a stern rebuke from the FAA. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis was under construction. He flew his plane UNDER the high suspension span. By the time he landed at Rutherford Field in Baltimore County ( just off Rolling Road) the feds were waiting for him. His career job was with the A. S. Abell Company, publishers of the Baltimore Sun newspapers. He worked there for 33 years, most of it as the Circulation Director for Maryland's Eastern Shore. He retired at age 58 after a bad accident. Throughout the latter half of his life he was a very avid coin collector and numismatic expert who was often paid to appraise estates. In retirement he loved to travel in his motor home and traveled to places including Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. He died of Liver and Pancreatic cancer being not quite 65 years old.
Contributed on 4/19/15 by fcwaggoner
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Record #: 7561