Benjamin Ford Obituary

Here is an obituary for Benjamin Ford. As you can see, it's just cut out of a newspaper with no indication of the date or which newspaper. B. FORD CALLED SUDDENLY BY DEATH

Benjamin Ford was born on December 5, 1854, in Frankfort, Ky., and died on the evening of Jan. 8, 1925, at his home in Dermott. For a short while before his death, he had been suffering from ill health, but had continued the active discharge of his official duties. His sudden death on Thursday evening, within fifty minutes after he had facilitated the handling of express from the fast south-bound train, came as a great shock to the whole community. Those with him when the end came were Mrs. Ford, his wife, Dr. E. E. Barlow, his physician, G. E. Kinney, his son-in-law, and Mrs. Gray, his sister-in-law.

After the arrival of his sons and daughters from distant points, the funeral services were held in the Presbyterian Church on Tuesday morning at ten o'clock, and interment took place in the Dermott cemetery. The services were conducted by his pastor, Rev. M. A. Boggs, assisted by Rev. B. F. Roebuck, pastor of the Methodist Church. The music was rendered by the church quartette, and consisted of greathymns which Mr. Ford had loved while alive. All the business houses in town were closed during the service, and a great many beautiful flowers had been given by his former friends and associates, showing the high esteem in which he was held in the community.Mr. Ford, at the time of his death, had given 51 years of faithful service to the Railroad Company. For 17 years he had been the agent for the Missouri Pacific in Dermott, and it is doubtful if the company ever had a more faithful or a more efficient agent. In his early years he was associated with Thomas Edison as an operator. "Uncle Joe" Cannon, the late U. S. Congressman from Missouri, was one of his intimate personal friends, and within the past few weeks before his death he had enjoyed a personal visit from Mr. C. H. Stevens, former paymaster of the Missouri Pacific. In his early youth he united with the Methodist Church and gave many active years of service to that denomination as a Steward, Sunday School Superintendent and Bible Class worker. Three years ago he united with the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member at the time of his death.

He was married on Feb. 27, 1878, to Miss Octavia L. Lutes of Marquand, Mo. To this union were born six children, all of whom survive him except the first one, Maud, who died in infancy and was buried at Glen Allen, Mo. The others are: Mrs. S. S. Marx of Los Angeles, Cal; Mrs. G. E. Kinney of Dermott; Mr. E. Paul Ford of San Diego, Cal; Mr. H. P. Ford of Johnston City, Tenn; and Mrs. Virgil A. Beeson of Atlanta. Ga. He is survived also by his widow, Mrs. Octavia Lutes Ford of Dermott, a sister, Mrs. M. L. Omering of Little Rock, and a nephiew, Mr. E. B. Ford of Little Rock, and twelve grandchildren.

In losing Mr. Ford, Dermott has lost one of her foremost citizens, the Railroad Company a faithful official, the family a loving and devoted father, and the community a man of undaunted courage. The memory of his brave and useful life will always be to those who knew him "a part of life's unalterable good. "

The lights are out In the mansion of clay; The curtains are drawn, For the dwellers away; He silently slipped O'er the threshold of night, To make his abode In the city of light.