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Remembering Former Tampan: Benjamin (BJ) Ford August 18, 1940 – August 10, 2019
Benjamin Ford, former Howard W. Blake High School football and basket- ball player, passed August 10, 2019 at Richmond Me- morial Regional Hospital, in Mechanicsville, VA, after a long bout with diabetes.
Ben was the fifth of seven children born to the late William and Beulah Ford in Thomasville, GA. At the age of three Ben’s family moved to Tampa.
He attended schools in the West Tampa Corridor - Dunbar Elementary School, Carver Jr. High School and graduated from Howard W. Blake High School in 1959. He lived and loved life as a Yellow Jacket where he was a firststring guard who never forgot that Coach Big Jim Williams stressed the im- portance to players that smoking and drinking were detrimental to their health.
Ben joined the U. S. Army, where he served tours of duty in Germany (3T), Korea and Vietnam. After re- tiring in 1985, he enrolled in St. Leo’s College (now Uni- versity) where he received a degree in Human Resource Management.
When we decided to re- tire in Virginia, Ben joined St. Stephen’s Episcopal
Church because that is my faith from birth. At St. Stephen’s, he served as a Lay Reader and worked diligently with the Men’s Club, the Vestry, the Petersburg Men’s Homeless Shelter and Down- town Churches United. Ben wanted to help children from low income families. We did so by purchasing “Bikes for Christ’s Children” and mak- ing monetary donations to the Children’s Home of Vir- ginia Baptist and numerous other organizations.
An accomplishment of his was becoming a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, where his involvement was immeasurable. He con- vinced his chapter to read monthly to children in Pe- tersburg and Hopewell. At the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Quiz, Ben awarded students a two dol- lar bill for each correct an- swer. The work he did for his fraternity was greatly appre- ciated by his fraternity broth- ers. A room was named in his honor in their Delta Omega Center of Excellence Building. During his thirty- one years as an Omega, Ben served as Basileus (Presi- dent), Chairman of the an- nual Mardi Gras for over twenty years and chair of nu-
BENJAMIN FORD
merous other committees. He was awarded Omega Man of the Year (2T), Superior
Service Award and named to the President’s Scroll of Honor. Ben truly lived by the four Cardinal Principles of Omega: Perseverance, Scholarship, Manhood, and Uplift.
He believed strongly in education. In 2009, Ben and classmates Frances Jen- nings and Bishop Charles Davis joined together to award a scholarship in cele- bration of their 50th class re- union. In 2016, we established the Benjamin and Barbara Hepburn Ford Scholarship to be awarded annually to a high school senior.
Ben and I married on August 26, 1962. We were a
couple all of sixty-one years – fifty-seven years as hus- band and wife. His life was centered around the eighth month of the year – August. He was born on August 18, 1940; he joined the Army on August 17, 1961; he passed on August 10, 2019 and was eu- logized on August 17, 2019 - the same day he joined the Army in 1961.
He is with his parents and siblings and my parents, Henry and Mildred Hep- burn. Ben was and will al- ways be my forever love, the love of my life, and my “Spe- cial” Omega Man.
Barbara Anne Hep- burn Ford
Prince George, Virginia
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY PAGE 5-A