Obituary of Carol Ford

Carol Clark Ford danced all her life. The young girl from Topeka Kansas danced her way into a soda shop in rural Kansas and found, in all things in her life, a life-long dance partner in soda jerk, Don Ford. Don and Carol started a distant correspondence broken by irregular visits swinging to the big bands at Forbes Air Force base in Topeka. After returning from military service they soon knew they wanted to marry, but decided to wait until Don finished college. They couldn't wait a day more. On the day of his graduation from Kansas State University on Memorial Day, 1948, they wed. In 1952 they moved to Penn State and found their first home in Lemont where Carol soon became involved in women's organizations and embraced the "Happy Valley" community. Carol and Don danced together throughout their lives. Later in life as Carol's Alzheimer disease advanced and she could no longer walk, they found, with Don supporting her, that dancing together in their home was something they could still enjoy. They danced together nearly every day until her death on Aug. 27, 2011. She was 83. Along with dancing Carol had a passion for the arts. She loved to sing and to express her creativity through painting and crafts. Her love of music began with learning to play piano as a child and singing as she played. She would instill that same love of music in her four sons. Singing with others was a great joy of Carol's and over the years she sang with the Lemont Women's Club, the State College Choral Society, Sweet Adeline's barbershop group, and the choir at State College Presbyterian Church. Over the past few years, despite her limitations, she would sit next to the piano smiling and humming along as family sang her favorite songs or listened to her favorite choral work, the Halleluiah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. Carol may have been best known in her community for her paintings and crafts which attracted interest at both local arts festivals and her home studio, the "Personal Touch". She used the profits to support the development of non-profit programs designed to strengthen the "Happy Valley" community. She provided start-up and growth money for development initiatives such as a hospital based infant evaluation center; a family planning center; Meals on Wheels; a volunteer action center; children, youth, and family services; the Women's Resource Center; community alternatives for criminal justice; and Alzheimer's support groups. Along with her personal activities, Carol also played an important role in helping Don create and develop Penn State's Division of Counseling (now the Division of Undergraduate Studies) and the College of Human Development (now the College of Health and Human Development). Her involvement in recruiting faculty and staff and in providing opportunities for social gatherings with their families created a culture of caring and collaboration that exists today. Don and Carol established the Carol Clark Ford Staff Award in the College of Health and Human Development as a way to celebrate those that continue to contribute to developing the culture they built together for over twenty years. Carol's most caring, joyous and creative efforts involved her large and loving family. She had four sons with husband Dr. Donald H. Ford, former Dean of the College of Health and Human Development. Russell was born in the prairies of Kansas in 1951 and lives in Hershey with his wife Barb. Carol wanted a larger family and was surprised with twins in the summer of 1954. Douglas and his wife Pam live in State College and his twin brother Martin and his wife Sheri live in Clifton, Virginia. In 1962 her fourth son joined the all male crew. Cameron and his wife Gricel Fernandez live in Orlando, Florida. It wasn't until twelve grandchildren and three great grandchildren (and a fourth on the way) did she finally get her girls and break the all male Ford tradition. Carol was a caring wife, a supportive mother and grandmother who, despite an increasing loss of capabilities, enjoyed a long, loving, and courageous life and even now continues to dance. Visitation will be 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4th, 2011 at Koch Funeral Home, 2401 South Atherton St., State College. A Memorial service will held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 5th, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, 780 Waupelani Drive Extension, State College. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions could be made to State College Meals on Wheels, P.O. Box 1235, State College, PA 16804, Doctors Without Borders, 333 7th Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10001-5004, or other groups who reflect Carol's wish to support opportunities for volunteers to help their communities.