Lucille Ford

Lucille McFarlan Ford died December 30 at age 91, after 25 years of struggling with and suffering the paralyzing effects of polymyositis. Lucille was a great woman of the Greatest Generation. She was a feminist in the strongest sense of the word, an ideal mother of three children, the life’s dream of her adoring husband of 67 years, Col. Louis W. (Tad) Ford, U.S.A.F. (Ret.), and a compassionate contributor to her community until her illness kept her home.

When Lucille’s family moved from the Midwest to Los Angeles just ahead of the Depression, she not only adapted but thrived. Her elegance and intellect got her elected class vice president at the city’s biggest high school (a girl!) and then took her somewhere no one in her family had ever dreamed of going: to University, where she studied the English language she loved and used eloquently all her life. She went first to U.C.L.A then Berkeley, where she studied for final exams in a closet during a blackout following Pearl Harbor. She worked during the next three years of war and then married Tad days after he returned an early hero of the war in the Pacific. Her next decades were devoted to her marriage, her family, and communities around the country and world to which the Air Force took them. After settling in Bellevue in 1966 Lucille devoted innumerable hours to KING Helpline, Seattle Art Museum, Overlake Service League and Heads Up Program, where her charm, dedication, and understanding brought her many close and lasting friendships.

Nothing could be more lasting than the devotion of her husband, with whom Lucille shared more than half a century of romance and adventure, and fought an epic battle against the debilitating effects of her illness. The pain and disability never broke Lucille’s spirit, and she remained her caring, curious, humorous, and insightful self to the end of her life.

Lucille is survived and deeply missed by her husband Tad and her children and their families: Dr. Brian Lee Ford and Patty Cleary; Lauri (Ford) Mitchell and her husband Grant; Tim and Barbara Ford and Lucille’s grandchildren Lucas and Kendall, their dear family friend Kathy Arcide, and many others.

At Lucille’s request, there will be no memorial service but remembrances can be posted at www.sunsethillsfuneralhome.com and donations made in her name can be made to Research to Prevent Blindness, 645 Madison Ave., NY, 10022, 1-800-621-0026, www.RPBUSA.org