Chester M. Ford Sr., a retired auto parts manufacturing company foreman and Korean War veteran, died of heart failure Tuesday at Genesis Eldercare Multi-Medical Center in Towson. The longtime Northwest Baltimore resident was 76.
Mr. Ford was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. He attended Douglass High School before enlisting in the Army, where he served with an infantry unit in Korea.
After returning to Baltimore, he earned his General Educational Development certificate and worked for 30 years as a foreman at the now-defunct Blue Chip Automotive Co. He retired in 1995.
An outdoorsman, Mr. Ford enjoyed fishing and was a member of the Falcon Rod and Gun Club. He also liked to bowl, watch sporting events and rebuild automobiles.
A longtime member of Sharon Baptist Church, Mr. Ford was a member of its senior choir. A tenor, he also was a member of the Hymns Ensemble and often was a guest soloist with other area church choirs.
Other duties at the church included making sure it was ready for Sunday services. He had been a church trustee, deacon and a member of Asbury Butler Men's Fellowship and Richard Nickens' Security Force.
He was married for 30 years to the former Lillian Jordan, a retired city public school teacher, who died in 2000.
Services were held yesterday at his church.
Surviving are a son, Chester M. Ford Jr. of Roland Park; two stepdaughters, Cynthia D. Jones of Pacifica, Calif., and Joanne C. Bryant of Randallstown; and three grandsons. An earlier marriage to Sarah Pajardo ended in divorce.
