Franklin Ray Ford

For those of you that knew Dad, you know that he lived life on his own terms. He even wrote his own obituary. I, Franklin Ray Ford, 81 years of age died today, December 14th, 2020. I was born in Rigby, Idaho on Dec. 24th, 1938 in a rock house serving as a birthing place. I was born to Charles Edward Ford and Jane ElReita Ford. In June of 1941, due to a job change by my father we moved to Twin Falls and have called it home ever since. I attended Lincoln Elementary, TF Jr. High School (which later became O’Leary) and Twin Falls High School, graduating in 1957. In March of 1958 I joined the U. S. Navy. I went to six months of Communication School in Imperial Beach, California and from there to Washington D. C. where I studied the Russian language for nine months. My final 2 1/2 years I spent as a translator at Kamiseya, Japan. Upon release, having found that Twin Falls had no decent paying jobs, I moved to Sunnyvale, California. I was there ten years having worked at Lester’s Market, Fry’s Food Stores, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company and finally Alpha Beta Groceries. It was while working at Lester’s that I met and married the most wonderful person in the world, Sandra Silva. We had two boys and I wanted to move back to Twin Falls to raise them but Sandra did not want to leave her parents. In 1972 her parents bought and ran a motel in South Lake Tahoe, Ca. so at that point Sandra and I sold our home and moved to Twin, having no job and no income in February of 1973. I temporarily turned to my experience in the grocery business. I went to work for Safeway on Main Street North and in the meantime took an offered postal exam. I passed that test and became a city mail carrier for the next 26 years, retiring in 1999 at the age of 60. I was never much for collecting money and material things. I had the most fun being at family gatherings, whether it be my wife and kids or my own parents and siblings which measured ten. I was preceded in death by my parents, two brothers, Charles Leon Ford and James Nolan Ford and four sisters, Raeola (Ford Cooke), Shirley Nadine (Ford) Cardwell, Reita Jeane (Ford) Rambo and Mary Ellen (Ford) Rasmussen. I loved and relied on my wife Sandra our entire marriage. She claims I was the rock but I always knew in reality that she was the strong one. I am survived by my wife Sandra, two sons, Walter and Edward, brother Donald Edsal Ford, sister Ruby Deoine (Ford) Moore and Linda (Ford) Lyda and 9 grandchildren and many of my friends from the class of ’57, the only class (that I knew about) to have a song named for it. Per Dad’s request, no funeral services will be held now, but a Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of Rosenau Funeral Home.