President Gerald R. Ford

Grand Rapids' Favorite Son

President Gerald R. Ford

Perhaps the editor of the Grand Rapids Press, Mike Lloyd, summed it up best when, in January 2007, he wrote an editorial for a commemorative edition following the death of President Ford: "Gerald R. Ford Jr., the 38th president of the United States, loved his country. And his community. And his community loved him back."

The deep feelings of pride and respect that the people of Grand Rapids share for President Ford are evident by the many buildings and structures that bear his name throughout the area. From the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum to the Gerald R. Ford International Airport and the Gerald R. Ford Council Boy Scouts of America, it is apparent that his legacy has inspired many expressions of permanent tributes.

This legacy which is held so dear by the people of Grand Rapids is one shaped by strong Midwestern values, leadership and integrity despite overwhelming difficult circumstances. Because Ford was the only president in U.S. history not nationally elected, he has been referred to as the "accidental" president. But the strength of character he continually demonstrated was definitely no accident. Rather, his values were intentionally instilled upon him by his mother, Dorothy Ayer Gardner King. Teaching by example, she demonstrated her own determination to overcome difficult situations when she left her husband, Ford’s biological father, in 1913. She and her then two-week old son fled Omaha, Nebraska for Grand Rapids, Michigan. She married Gerald R. Ford Sr., a local paint salesman, who gave his young stepson his name and eventually adopted him.

The future president grew up in a close-knit family which provided him a foundation of decency, honesty and civic leadership – values that reflect Grand Rapids. In 1997, the then former president said of his hometown, "Here (Grand Rapids) is where I first gained a sense of place, faith in a moral universe, and the certainty that we are all God’s children. Three cardinal rules governed the Ford household: work hard, tell the truth, and come to dinner on time."

Ford may have served as president for a relatively short time, 29 months, but what he accomplished during that time eventually led an entire nation to acknowledge that it was his integrity – the values he acquired as a boy in Grand Rapids – that enabled him to restore dignity to the White House. President Ford is now credited with healing political wounds and saving a nation that had endured the troubling era of Watergate and an unpopular war. It’s no wonder that Grand Rapids has made so much effort to remember and honor its favorite native son.

For details about the buildings and structures which were significant to the life of Gerald R. Ford or which honor his memory, click here.

For a suggested driving tour itinerary of many of the buildings and structures significant to Gerald R. Ford, click here.