Memphis, TN - Eleanor Ford, 83, formerly of Red Lake Falls, died Saturday, January 17, 1998 in Memphis, TN.
Mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday, January 24 at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Red Lake Falls with Father Gary LaMoine officiating. Casketbearers will be Robert Kalbakdalen, Jeffrey Kalbakdalen, Daniel Kalbakdalen, Destin Smith, Shaun Moran and Cory Violette. Honorary casketbearers will be her great-grandsons, friends and neighbors. Burial will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in the spring.
Visitation will be held on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. with a 7 p.m. prayer service with Reverend Cameron Stratton officiating at the Petterson Funeral Home in Red Lake Falls and also one hour prior to services at the church on Saturday.
Eleanor Sylvia Gustofson was born on December 14, 1914 at Bemidji, the daughter of Jorgan and Sylvia (Larson) Gustofson. She attended grade school at Bemidji and graduated from high school at the school for the deaf at Faribault.
She was united in marriage to Joe Ford in 1933 at Red Lake Falls. The couple farmed in Browns Creek township where Joe's father had homesteaded in 1880. Joe died in 1946. In 1959 Eleanor moved to Memphis, TN where she made her home. For the past several months she was a patient at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis.
Eleanor is survived by one son, John Joseph "Jack" Ford of Norfolk, VA; two daughters, Carol (William) Smith of Memphis, TN and Joan (Maynard) Kalbakdalen of Red Lake Falls; 14 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson; and two daughters-in-law, Elaine Ford of Jacksonville, FL and Patricia Hickock of Virginia Beach, VA.
She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; two sons, David Gordon Ford in infancy and Earl David Ford; three great-grandsons; two brothers; and three sisters.