Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

February 29, 2024

Charlotte, North Carolina – Jean Ford contracted polio when she was 11 years old and learned to live with its lifelong impact. She lost her son, Sandy, on the operating table when he was 21. She walked with her daughter, Debbie, through two bouts of breast cancer. Her last several months were fraught with one physical challenge after another, until a massive stroke took her.

Jean was (happily!) never as renowned as her older brother, Billy Graham, and her husband, Leighton Ford, evangelists whose voices carried far and wide. But with an uncommon grace and steadfast manner in the face of whatever life threw at her, she was an inspiration to many.

Jean Graham Ford went home to be with the Lord on February 29, 2024. She was 91. Her faith in Christ taught her what was to come when she breathed her last. But her love of God also imbued her with hope, that her work on earth wasn’t done.

The day before she died, just after having lunch with Kevin, she told Debbie, “I don’t feel hopeless. I can still make progress.”

Jean was the youngest of Frank and Morrow Graham’s four children. Raised on a dairy farm near the site of Park Road Shopping Center, she milked cows. Her allowance was a nickel. She took her lunch to Sharon Elementary School, often a lettuce sandwich. The highlight of the week was when her father drove her downtown for an RC Cola and Moon Pie. Years later, Jean spoke of a household built around Jesus, as if He was another member of the family.

Though 14 years younger than her oldest sibling, Billy, the two were close – even when he put her on his shoulders to walk around the house and forgot about the divider between rooms. It was an early lesson in forgiveness after she smacked her head and went flying. She was a child the first time she heard him preach at Sharon Presbyterian Church in the SouthPark community. He was so loud, she recalled, she put her hands over her ears. In 1957 at the New York City crusade that rocketed Billy to fame, Jean volunteered answering the phones, taking calls from a captivated public.

Jean’s first lesson in perseverance came in 1944 when she contracted polio at age 11. She spent her 12^th birthday in the hospital. She survived. But because of the disease, for the rest of her life she had trouble swallowing and projecting her voice.

Jean graduated from Central High School and went off to Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., where she graduated in 1953. There she got more than a Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Education. She was a sophomore when she met a tall, lanky junior. Years later, Leighton spoke of how his reserved Canadian heart was turned inside out and upside down. On their first date, they went to a concert on campus of Handel’s Messiah. The romance blossomed even though Leighton showed up late and they couldn’t sit together. Their third date was to a Billy Graham crusade in Cincinnati. They were married on Dec. 19, 1953, in Charlotte, where they settled and spent 70 years together. They were a team. Leighton has spent a lifetime sharing God’s love, first through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and then Leighton Ford Ministries, which he launched to mentor young Christian leaders. Their son, Kevin, is now his father’s partner.

While Leighton traveled the world, she mostly stayed home to raise their children. Polio made it hard for her to raise her voice. But the Ford children agree, she never had trouble getting her point across. Jean answered her own call by leading a women’s Bible study for 25 years, co-founding Women of Vision (Charlotte) and contributing to the life of their church as an elder and leader at Myers Park Presbyterian. She was also Leighton’s toughest editor. “Too long,” she’d sometimes say when he handed her something he had written.

Jean faced another test when they lost their oldest child, Sandy, during heart surgery the day after Thanksgiving in 1981. She knew she had to decide. Either God is good or there is no God. She cried for much of the first year after his death. It was as if she had no more tears left, such was the way she held it inside after that. She forever mourned his loss but somehow endured with her spirit wounded but alive.

It was much the same when she supported their daughter, Debbie, through two bouts of her breast cancer. As Jean once said, “To become a child of God means a relationship, and it’s a secure relationship that doesn’t depend on illness or it doesn’t depend on the weather.”

Jean is survived by her husband, Leighton Ford, of Charlotte; two children – Debbie Gourley and her husband, Craig, and Kevin Ford and his wife, Caroline, all of Charlotte; five grandchildren – Graham Gourley and his wife, Lori, of Belmont, Christine Gourley of New York, Ben Gourley of Charlotte, Anabel Ford and her fiancée, Chase Riddell, of Charlotte, and Leigh Ford of Charlotte; and two great-grandchildren – Connor and Kaylin Gourley of Belmont. She is also survived by their extended family.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Morrow Graham; siblings, Melvin Graham, Catherine Graham McElroy and Billy Graham; and son, Sandy Ford.

A service to celebrate her life will be at 2 p.m. Friday, March 8, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, 2501 Oxford Place, Charlotte, N.C. Jean did not like the color black. She would have appreciated seeing everyone dressed in colorful attire. Visitation follows at the church. The service will be livestreamed at www.myersparkpres.org.

A gift in her memory can be made to Myers Park Presbyterian, 2501 Oxford Place, Charlotte, N.C. 28207 (www.myersparkpres.org); Leighton Ford Ministries, 2048 Carmel Road, Charlotte, N.C. 28226 (www.lfmconnect.org); or Billy Graham Archive and Research Center, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, N.C. 28201 (www.billygraham.org.)

If you would like to share a story, memory, or picture of what Jean meant to you, please send an email to RememberingJean@LFMConnect.org.

The family is grateful for the care and kindness shown by Dr. Lorri Ayers, the staff at The Stewart Health Center and caregivers Silvia and Patricia Madrid.

Jean looked out first for those who felt left out of life, that she might welcome them in. She was a confidante to anyone who needed someone to talk to. She asked questions and noticed those who didn’t pose questions to others. After she died, someone told Kevin Ford “With your Mom, a person got seen.” She was an uncanny judge of character and never hesitated to share her opinion with Leighton. She had difficulty seeing, hearing and talking. But neither age nor infirmity slowed her down. She enjoyed watching the Tar Heels on TV and even with poor vision thought she knew better than the refs. Among the last things on her to-do list was getting a personal trainer.

She was happy to concede the spotlight to her brother and husband. The day her church surprised her with a Woman of the Year award, she had to get up and make a speech. “If I had known this,” she told the gathering, “I would have worn different shoes.” Then she sat down.

Late on the evening that the family gathered to craft Jean’s obituary, Leighton asked friends to share what Jean meant to them. One said this: “Her spiritual influence was like the gentle flow of a river, moving but not forcing.” She would have squirmed at the praise. But Billy Graham’s sister and Leighton Ford’s wife would have been humbled knowing they weren’t the only ones who helped the lost and the blessed know God’s love.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28204 (704) 641-7606. Online condolences can be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.