WALTER DALE FORD

SHELDON- Funeral services with military honors will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada, Mo., for Walter Dale Ford, 80, Sheldon, who died Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, at St. Luke’s Hospice House in Kansas City, Mo., following a brief illness. Shane McCaslin will officiate. Those in attendance will be asked to maintain social distancing and are asked to wear face masks to protect themselves and others.

A private family committal will be held at a later date.

Friends may call from now until the hour of service at the funeral home.

Memorials are suggested in his memory to Sheldon Cemetery, in care of the funeral home.

The obituary may be viewed and condolences sent online at www.ferryfuneralhome.com.

Survivors include three sons, Dwayne Ford, Dennis Ford and Darrell Ford, all of Sheldon; two grandchildren, Dustin Ford and wife Stephanie, Lamar and Camie Ford, Nevada, Mo.; three great-grandchildren, Daxton, Denver and Clair; numerous nieces and nephews, as well as his close friends, Robert McGinnis, and Paula Bechtle.

In addition to his wife Mary, he was preceded in death by five sisters and one brother.

Mr. Ford was born Jan. 14, 1941, in Sheldon, to George H. and Sylvia I. (Hoover) Ford. He married Mary Fern Scholes on June 14, 1964, in Sheldon. She died Oct. 31, 2020.

Mr. Ford was raised in Sheldon and graduated from Sheldon High School in 1959. He served in the United States Navy from 1961-1963. Following his service years, he worked at the Nevada State Hospital for 23 years as an aide and at Thorco in Lamar for 15 years as a computerized welder, in addition to farming and raising cattle his whole life. He was a member of the Sheldon Christian Church.