Virginia "Ginny" Ford  

Miss Virginia Ford, 87, of Winter Park, Florida, died at 2:33 pm, Monday, February 17, 2014 at Winter Park Memorial Hospital. She was born August 8, 1926 in Wabash, Indiana to Wilbur Edwin and Florence Gertrude (Jeup) Ford. She maintained residences in Winter Park and at Lake Maxinkuckee, Culver, Indiana, where she was a long-time resident.

Her parents and two brothers preceded her in death: Stanley W. (1928-1978) and David J. (1929-1979). Surviving are a brother, Richard E., and sister-in-law, Mrs. Stanley Ford (Marilyn Hansen), and three nephews, Steven R. (Lisa), Daniel H. (Tammy) and Mark S. (Amy) and seven grandnieces and grandnephews.

Miss Ford was a 1944 graduate of Wabash High School and graduated from Wellesley College in 1948 with an A.B. degree in Economics. Following graduation, she worked for a short time at the Ford Meter Box Company, Wabash, before joining the Market Research Department of Procter & Gamble. She later became head of hiring for the researchers in that department.

A principal interest was music; she played the cello in her college orchestra, and later supported several arts organizations including the Orlando Opera and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. She gave her cello to an inner-city school in Orlando to encourage its string program, with the hope that the students would enjoy the rapture she had found in music. She also helped support the Winter Park Public Library, the Negro Spiritual Scholarship Foundation, and she delivered Meals on Wheels for many years.

Miss Ford was an active alumna of Wellesley College, serving terms as class representative and endowing scholarship funds in memory of her mother and Dr. Mary M. Crawford, both Class of '22. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Winter Park and she served as Trustee of the Charley Creek Foundation in Wabash.

Memorial services will be held in Winter Park and in Wabash, at a later date. Following cremation, she will be buried in Falls Cemetery, Wabash. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Charley Creek Foundation, PO Box 454, Wabash, IN 46992, or the Fund for the Preservation of Culver Academies History, 1300 Academy Road, Culver, IN 46511.

Arrangements by Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service , 1241 Manchester Ave., Wabash, IN 46992.

The memorial guestbook for Miss Ford may be signed at www. grandstaff-hentgen. com.

Published in the The Indianapolis Star & Orlando Sentinel on Feb. 21, 2014