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Colonel (USAF Ret.) Wallace Stafford "Wally" Ford, (1914-2000) was born on April 16, 1914 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the foster son of Henry Lovelace Ford and Susie Evaline Stafford of Pass Christian, Mississippi. He was valedictorian of Pass Christian High School and graduated in 1932. In 1934 he applied and was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point New York. He graduated in the Class of 1938 with a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. He completed his academic requirements for a Masters in Business Administration in the mid 1980's at Rollins University in Orlando, Florida.

Colonel Ford began Flight Training at Randolph Field, Texas in the summer of 1938 and after Advanced Flight Training at Kelly Field, Texas, got his wings August 25th 1939. He was married on 13 October 1939 to Betty Elaine Baumberger at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron in August 1944 for flights only and was on the staff of the 5230th Composite Rescue Group / 13th Air Force. He flew operational missions for the 2nd ERS for a year (Read his first mission report) and left for the states in September 1945.

He formed and led the first US jet Fighter-Bomber Wing (50th) to deploy to Europe after WWII. He flew the lead aircraft for the scores of F-86s that relocated from Clovis, NM to Hahn AFB, GE in 1953.

Colonel Ford stayed in the Air Force for 25 years and retired on 16 April 1957. From 1957 until the mid '70s, he worked for North American Aviation (Rockwell) developing the F-108 and the B-70, and as Assistant General Manager of the Space & Information Systems Division developing the Apollo Spacecraft and S-IVB stage of the Saturn Rocket. From the mid '70s until the mid '80s, he headed the National Realty Office in Brevard County, FL. He then relocated to the North Carolina mountains and built a home on the side of a mountain in Sylva and retired. He stayed in touch with some of his fellow graduates from West Point (the ones he outlived!) and went to several of the reunions in his later years.

Colonel Ford became active in the Sylva Episcopalian Church with his wife, Geraldine Louthan Love "Gerry" who he married on the 18 December 1972. He passed away at home January 4th, 2000, of congestive heart failure at the age of 85. His ashes are spread in his church's Memorial Garden in Sylva, North Carolina.

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