Special tribute, service set for Charlotte’s Hester Ford, once oldest living American

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Jonathan Limehouse
·2 min read
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Hester McCardell Ford, who up until two weeks ago was the oldest living American to date, will have her life honored with a special light display and funeral service, her great-granddaughter Tanisha Patterson Myers told the Observer on Tuesday.

Ford died at her Charlotte home on April 17 at the age of 115 or 116, depending on what records you’re viewing.

The graveside service at York Memorial Park on South Tryon Street will begin at noon on Friday, but Myers said the family doesn’t anticipate the proceedings to be “really long.”

A public viewing is scheduled for Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Wayne Russell Funeral Home on Beatties Ford Road, but Myers said a two-hour window beginning at 5 p.m. will be allocated for the family.

Charlotte woman, who was oldest living American and had 125 great-grandchildren, has died

Ford, who was born on a farm in Lancaster County, S.C., lived through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the influenza pandemic of 1918. Married at 14 to husband John Ford, she would go on to have 12 children, 68 grandchildren, 125 great-grandchildren and around 120 great-great grandchildren.

According to her family, the confusion in Ford’s age comes from two sets of U.S. Census Bureau documents. One set indicates that Ford was born in 1905, but the other says she was born in 1904. Either way, Ford being 115 or 116 before her death, means she was still the oldest living person on record in America, based on data compiled by the Gerontology Research Group.

To honor Ford, the 786-foot-tall Duke Energy Center in uptown will light up in purple — her favorite color — on Wednesday night.

“I think it’s going to be a beautiful thing to see,” Myers said.

Staff writer Théoden Janes contributed to this story.

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