Mrs. Maud Ford to celebrate 89th birthday


Mrs. Maud Ford began crocheting afghans for her family around 1970. The one covering her lap is the first one she ever made. The one on the extreme left is one she is making for herself. The middle one is one she is making for a great grandson.

By Mary Ruth Luna

 

Reprinted from in the June 20, 1974, edition of the Ozark County Times. 

 

Mrs. Maud Ford will celebrate her 89th birthday Sunday in much the same way she has spent most Sundays in her life - with a family dinner in her home in Gainesville. 

As long as Mrs. Ford can remember, her children, and later her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live close by, have come to her home for Sunday dinner.

And when Mrs. Ford’s husband Newt was alive, she usually had dinner guests every day of the week. In fact, Mrs. Ford never knew how many guests she would be serving for dinner or supper.

“When Newt got ready to come home and eat, he just invited everyone who was at the store to come with him,” she said. 

Mrs. Ford met her late husband when she was a student at the Center Point school. Newt Ford was the teacher. 

The next year Mrs. Ford, then Maud Owens, taught at Center Point, and her husband taught at Pontiac.

Newt and Maud Ford were married in 1903 and moved to Gainesville on Jan. 1, 1906. Here they first had a drug store which was located on the southwest corner of the square where Walker’s Antique Shop is now [in 1974]. But within a few months, the Fords moved the drug store to the present location of Ford’s Village Market. They gradually added a line of groceries, dry goods and farm machinery. 

When the Fords first moved to Gainesville, they lived in the house where Mary and Nelle Gault now live. In 1921, they moved to the home where Mrs. Ford still lives, across the street from Dr. Barry Sax’s office on Third Street. 

The Fords had seven children: Mrs. Lennie Amyx, Harrison, Ark.; an infant son who lived 1 day and was never named; Mamie who died in 1972; Leslie who died in 1953; Owen, Nampa, Ida.: Walton, Marionville, Mo.; and Mrs. Leta Evans, Wichita, Kans.

Newt Ford was killed in a car accident in 1934 leaving Mrs. Ford with three children still at home.

“I did anything I could get to do in those days after Newt died. I washed and ironed and sewed,” Mrs. Ford said. 

Her son, Leslie, continued operating the store for a year after his father’s death. Then, the Fords rented the store to Bushong Brothers who operated a general store there. About 1950, Leslie took over the store building again and opened Ford’s Village Market. 

Leslie’s widow, Mrs. Glenda Ford, and son, David, continue to operate the store today [in 1974].

Mrs. Ford has eight grandchildren. They are, Larry Amyx, Harrison, Ark.; David Ford, Gainesville; Mrs. Bob (Sally Jo) Bruno, Melva, Ida.; Mrs. Charles (Judy) Lyons, Houston, Tex.; Debbie Ford, Springfield; Tina Ford, Marionville; Kenneth Evans, California, Mo.; and Ronnie Evans, Lexington, N.C.

She also has 17 great-grandchildren. 

At one time many of the children and grandchildren lived close enough to always enjoy Sunday dinner at “Mama Ford’s,” as she was affectionately called by most of her family and many of her neighbors. 

“When Mamie was alive, she did most of the Sunday cooking. I made the bread and peeled the potatoes and set the table. I do the cooking now, but I don’t cook fancy dishes as Mamie did,” Mrs. Ford said. 

Besides having large family dinners on Sunday, Mrs. Ford is also known for her sewing ability.

Last Christmas she gave each of her 17 great-grandchildren a quilt she had made. Several years ago, she gave quilts to each of her children and grandchildren.

Now along with quilting, Mrs. Ford is also crocheting afghans. She made the first one about five years ago, and it took all winter to finish it.

Since then she estimates she has made about 25 full-size afghans, plus eight for babies. She says she can now make one in about two weeks if she works hard. She is finally working on an afghan for herself.

“I quilt in the morning and crochet in the evening,” she said. 

Mrs. Ford started sewing when she was seven years old.

“My mother sewed for people. She would cut out the pieces, and I would sew up the seams.

“I could spin thread and weave cloth too. My mother had a spinning wheel and a loom,” she recalls. 

Mrs. Ford is the oldest daughter of N. B. and Mattie Owens. She was born in 1885 in Douglas county. When she was only a few months old, her parents moved to Greene county, about 20 miles from Springfield, and lived there until Mrs. Ford was 11 years old. 

One of Mrs. Ford’s sisters, Mrs. Tressie Rose, lives in Gainesville and a brother, Charles Owens, lives in Ava. Another sister, Mrs. Nan Jones, lives in Pasadena, Tex.

Mrs. Ford said she made all of the clothing for her children when they were small and has done a lot of sewing for her grandchildren too. 

“I made all of my grandson Larry’s clothes until he was six. He finally told his mother, Lennie Amyx, ‘Mama, I want something to wear that Grandma Ford didn’t make.’” Mrs. Ford said. 

Mrs. Ford made coats, as well as dresses, for granddaughter Judy (now Mrs. Charles Lyons) and also made Judy’s wedding dress.

Until the last two or three years, Mrs. Ford made Christmas and birthday gifts for all her grandchildren. Besides making clothes, granddaughter Debbie Ford recalls that Mrs. Ford also made dolls for the grandchildren. 

When Debbie was small, she like to help Mrs. Ford quilt. 

Mrs. Ford would give her a needle and thread but said, “I had to take all of her quilting out. So Mamie and I finally made her a quilting frame and got her some material and cotton so Debbie could quilt her own, and I didn’t have to take her quilting out of mine - She just quilted all over her quilt.”

Mrs. Ford has always enjoyed staying home. “Home is the best place to stay. I never went very much anywhere. I have always been that way. Newt would go with the kids to school programs, and I would stay home,” she said. 

But before she was married, Mrs. Ford always went to church. “I never missed a Sunday, and I went to hear any preacher who came.”

Mrs. Ford now rarely leaves her home. She has never been in a hospital and has only been in a doctor’s office a few times in her life. 

Granddaughter Debbie said, “Grandma has been really sick a few times, but when her children come home, she will snap out of it.”

One of the few trips Mrs. Ford has made outside her home in recent years was on May 26, [1974], when she went to the Pontiac Cemetery to decorate the Ford graves.

“I was sick last year and didn’t get to go. And I was determined to go this year even if it made me sick again,” she said. 

Pictures of Mrs. Ford’s family - children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are displayed around her large living room, and Mrs. Ford knows all of their birthdates. “Sometimes I have to study a little bit to remember a date, but I keep all of their pictures where I can see them.”

 

Editors note: The Ford Market building, located on the west side of the Gainesville square, still bears “Old Ford Market” lettering on the brick building face. The building is currently occupied by The Hair Shop, a salon owned by Mischa Kastning. Prior to her move into the space earlier this year, another shop, the Bouquet Palace, had operated a flower and gift shop out of the space since 2021. 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423