Helen Lucile Ford

Helen was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on December 6, 1926, to parents Walter Wyman Lancaster and Alberta Lucile Lancaster. Two years later, Helen and her younger sister Betty lost their mother due to complications of childbirth. After their father remarried in 1931, the sisters grew up in a blended family that came to include three more sisters – Patty, Erma, and Gwen – and a brother, Walter.

In 1948, at the age of twenty-one, she married Sanford Theodore (Ted) Ford, a veteran of World War II. Together, Helen and Ted used the GI bill to pursue his goal of becoming a pharmacist. Helen worked as a secretary to support them during Ted’s schooling. Following his graduation from Ole Miss in 1953, Helen and Ted started a family, raised three children, and built a life together in southern Mississippi. In 1969, after Hurricane Camille devastated the gulf coast region, the family moved north – first to Louisville, Kentucky, and then on to Kettering, Ohio – in pursuit of new and better opportunities.

Helen and Ted built a new life for themselves in Kettering where they were both employed at Kettering Medical Center for over 20 years, Ted as a pharmacist and Helen as secretary to the patient services director. They were faithful members of the Kettering Seventh Day Adventist Church. Following her retirement in 1992, Helen volunteered for several years at the Good Neighbor House, a collaboration of eight Dayton area Seventh-Day Adventist churches that worked to meet the needs of the underserved in the Dayton community. In 2005, Ted and Helen relocated to Westerville to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Helen and Ted were married 59 years until Ted’s death on September 14, 2007.

Helen rose to life’s challenges with energy and determination. She was intensely loyal to her family and ambitious for her children to thrive and make a positive difference in the world. Helen was also a life-long Christian who committed her life to God’s service. Until she took her last breath, she was determined to live in God’s will and witness for Him to everyone she met. Those who assisted her in her last years recall her ending every interaction with “Thank you and God bless you.” She always asked for each care giver’s first and last names so she could address them by name when they assisted her.

Helen is survived by daughter Janet Collins and son Ted Ford, Jr. (Judy) both of Westerville; son Mark Ford (Cindy) of Middletown, Maryland; and five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters Betty Ishee of Pearl, MS; Erma Lee (Durwood) and Gwen Payne (Darryl) of Walla Walla, Washington; and by her brother Walter Lancaster (Karen) of Riverside, CA. In addition to her husband, Ted Sr, she is predeceased by her sister Pattye (Ann) Suelzle (d. 2014), brother-in-law Jerry Ervin Ishee (d. 2024) and her son-in-law William Collins (d. 2020).

The family wants to thank the residents and staff at Danbury Parkside Senior Living in Westerville who helped her with her daily needs and called her friend in her final years. The family wishes to extend special thanks to her best friend and neighbor, Virginia Crotte, who could always make Helen smile and sing along with her to John Denver’s “Country Roads.” We also thank Helen’s beloved long-time, take-charge caregiver, Mae Fields of Options Home Care, who inspired Helen to “rise and shine” every morning she came to help. Finally, the family extends its heartfelt thanks to Penny Gillespie and the team at Capital City Hospice for their outstanding physical, emotional, social, and spiritual support in Helen’s final months.