It is a sad duty indeed to announce the death of a friend.  Helen
Ford, age 83, died this past Friday, November 11, after a long
illness.

Helen was a long-time resident of Annapolis, MD.  For many years a
member of the Maryland Ornithological Society and the Annapolis Bird
Club, Helen served as Secretary of MOS (for 18 years!) and as
President of the Annapolis Club.  I met Helen and her husband John
in 1993, when I took over editorship of MD Yellowthroat.  Five times
each year Helen and John would gather volunteers together from the
Annapolis Club to put address labels on the newsletter, sort them
into zip-code order, and then horse the ten or so very heavy cartons
down to the local post office.

Five times each year I would call Helen to let her know the
newsletter was on its way and then we would chat about children,
grandchildren, birds seen, birds missed, MOS gossip, and anything
else that happened to be on her mind that month.  Sometimes our
chats would go on for over an hour.  I grew to enjoy those phone
calls enormously and I think she did as well.  Near the end of my
tenure as editor we decided to have the Yellowthroat mailed directly
from Hagerstown.  I think she and John were relieved because the
burden had been getting heavier.  I continued to call her and chat
from time to time but without the excuse of the Yellowthroat, I
admit that I didn't keep up with her as much as I should have.  For
that I'm sorry because I will miss her.

Helen and John were also noted for their winter forays through the
Annapolis neighborhoods abutting the Chesapeake Bay, searching for
wintering waterfowl and culminating in hot soup back at their house.
They hadn't led the trips anymore the past few years, but the
tradition lives on and Fran and I were glad we were able to come
along on the last few trips they did lead.

Helen's interests were wide-in addition to birding, she was an avid
reader and member of many local book clubs, a member of the
International Club, of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, she did the
Sunday New York Times crossword faithfully (probably in ink!), and
she and John traveled extensively.  I was never able to tell her
about a locale Fran and I had visited to bird that she hadn't
already been to at least once.

Helen is survived by her husband John, by three sons, three
daughters, and seven grandchildren.  There will be a memorial
service on Monday, November 14, from 6-8 p.m. at Taylor Funeral
Home, 147 Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis.  A memorial Mass
will be held 11 a.m. Tuesday, November 15, at St. Andrew by the Bay
Catholic Church, 701 College Parkway, near Cape St. Claire.
Interment will follow at Maryland Veterans Cemetery in Crownsville,
MD.

If any of you have other memories of Helen that you would like to
share, please post them here so we may all read them.

Norm Saunders



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Norm Saunders
Colesville & West Ocean City, MD