Roy George Edwin Ford, 96, of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away on August 4, 2024, peacefully at home.
Roy was born on February 20, 1928, to Warren and Maria Pachulia Ford in Mazatlan, Mexico, and grew up in Eagle Rock, California. He graduated from Eagle Rock High School, served in the United States Navy, and earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California.
He began his engineering career at Hoffman Electronics in Los Angeles then took a position with Rockwell International, beginning a long and successful career in the aerospace and defense industry. This new chapter took Roy and his family to Cloudcroft, New Mexico, where he worked at a satellite tracking site, and in 1969, to Huntsville, AL where he started Rockwell’s marketing office, working on missile defense contracts.
Roy affectionately referred to Huntsville as “The Land of Milk and Hominy” and this is where he developed a taste for grits, sharpened his golf game as a charter member of the Valley Hill Country Club, and took up boating and waterskiing on the Tennessee River. His adventurous spirit even led him to obtain his private pilot’s license.
A loving husband, Roy was married to his first wife, Suzanne Bourne Ford, for 38 years until her death in 1986. He was blessed with 35 years of marriage to his wife, Charlotte Ford. A loving father, grandfather, great grandfather, and the “Fun Uncle” to his nieces and nephews, Roy helped build winning Pine Box Derby cars and taught every youngster who would pay attention to body surf, waterski, and play chess.
He was a man of brilliant mathematical ability and a fix-it mentality and was always generous with a helping hand. He loved life and enjoyed it to the fullest, taking an early retirement to spend some of the happiest years with his beloved wife, Charlotte, as snowbirds with a second home in Florida. They enjoyed traveling together, and took memorable trips to England, Europe, the Bahamas, and Caribbean, but always returned to “home base” in Alabama.
Roy’s latter years were spent mainly in Hampton Cove, where, along with Charlotte, he was active in his C Group at Cove Church. And it was through this group that Roy began volunteering at the Huntsville Learning Center, a nonprofit providing school children in under-served areas of the community opportunities for academic and personal development. Roy served on the building maintenance volunteer team, where his “fix-it” mentality came in handy installing new electrical wiring, lighting and more.
Roy loved God, his family, and friends – of which there were many. He is survived by his children, Mark Ford (Kathy), Jeff Ford, and Melissa Ford Thornton (Mark); grandson, Ford Thornton, and his bonus family – children Keith Watson, Bonita Greene, Tammy Cain (Mike), grandchildren Lauren Watson, Vanessa Watson, and Rachael Loper (Taylor): and great-grandchildren, Oliver Loper and Charlotte Loper.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Charlotte Ford, his son, Roy Gregory Ford, his parents, Warren Ford and Maria Pachulia Martinez de Borguez Ford, and siblings, Arthur Ford, Mary Maile, and Patricia Wasden.
Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. on Friday, August 9, 2024, at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. The service will follow in the chapel with the Rev. John Tanner officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Huntsville Learning Center.
