Richard T. "Dick" Ford Sr.

1922 - 2022

Richard T. "Dick" Ford, Sr.
October 11, 1922 - February 25, 2022
Keizer, Oregon - Richard T. "Dick" Ford, Sr. passed quietly in his 99th year on Friday, February 25, 2022. Born October 11, 1922 in Madera, California with his identical twin brother Robert, they grew up in Stockton and later their grandmother's farm in Madera, California during the Great Depression.
After a brief stint fresh out of high school as a reporter for the Madera Tribune, he joined brother Bob as a firefighter for the California Division of Forestry (CDF). They then attended San Bernardino City College for one semester in 1941, but both left school when WWII broke out to enlist in the Navy aviation program. They were released weeks later when their childhood exposure to TB disqualified their service, so they promptly joined the Army Air Force, both becoming pilots.
Dick met his future wife Esther while working as a firefighter for CDF in Madera, and they married in 1944 shortly before he was sent to England. Although Dick trained in B-25s, he was assigned to fly C-47 cargo planes, bringing supplies to Patton's army from England and twice dropping paratroopers into The Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. On his second combat mission dropping Polish troops into Driel, their aircraft was badly damaged by ground fire and flak, wounding two crew members and forcing an emergency landing in Eindhoven. On the 75th anniversary of that day, he described it as the worst day of his life: he thought he was going to die and never see his daughter or his wife again. He later dropped paratroops into Germany under fire in Operation Varsity on the Rhine River.
Upon release from the Army Air Force, Dick returned to work at CDF in Madera to build his life with wife Essie and young daughter Suzanne. Son Richard Jr. came along in 1949, completing the happy family. Dick remained in the Air Force Reserve and was called to active duty at Castle Air Force Base in Merced, California during the Korean War. After his release from active duty in 1952, he moved through the ranks of CDF with assignments in Willits, King City, and finally Fresno, California, where he was the regional Fire Prevention Officer and Investigator until his retirement in 1979.
While a fire investigator, he developed methodologies of fire investigation that allowed him to become a leading expert in wildfire origin investigation, able to follow clues to the fire's origin and actually find the physical evidence of the fire's source. He wrote two textbooks on the subject that became a standard training regime for CDF. In his retirement, Dick worked part-time as an investigator for Equifax. After leaving that work several years later, he developed a private practice as a fire and arson investigator called Fire Scene Investigations. His expertise was in great demand by law firms and insurance companies, and it helped settle many major law suits.
In 1990, Dick and Essie bought their dream home in Sunriver, Oregon where he served for many years on the Environmental Committee. They loved to travel, particularly enjoying cruises to Alaska, Hawaii, Tahiti, and the Mediterranean where they made many friends, some lifelong. After Esther's death in 2000, Dick continued to travel all over Europe and to New Zealand, often in the company of his brother Bob, who had by then also lost his wife. Ever the impish twins, the pair loved it when young women asked for a photo with "The Boys," where on the count of three, they turned to give the surprised lass a kiss on each cheek.
His health began a slow decline in recent years, leading him to leave his beloved Sunriver home to live at Emerald Pointe in Keizer, Oregon near his daughter Sue and son Rich. He is also survived by granddaughters Becky Nagle of Bend, Oregon, Janna Reece of Cheshire, Oregon, great grandchildren Noah and Titus Nagle, Alex and Abi Reece, Elizabeth and Andrew Phillips, Jesse and Tyler Johnson, and niece Michelle Johnson and nephew Tom Johnson of San Diego, and niece Lisa Diefel of Bellingham, Washington.
Dick will be remembered by all who knew him as a kind, smart, and loving man. He was interred March 4th beside his dear wife Essie at City View Cemetery in Salem. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to either the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon or the World War II Museum in New Orleans.