Ranger Exes Memorial - RHS Class of 1960

Tommy Ford THOMAS EUGENE BRIGGS FORD, a 17 year old Ranger High School student, was killed instantly at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1960 when the car he was driving was struck by a freight train on East Main street in Ranger, TX. Tommy, the son of Emery Eugene and Ovella Ford, who lived on Highway 80 East of Ranger, had just turned off Highway 80 onto East Main Street, on his way to an inter-school basketball game practice at the Recreation Building, when the freight train hit his 1955 Chevrolet. He was dead on arrival at the Ranger General Hospital. Thomas Ford was born in Alvin, TX, on May 5, 1942. He moved to Ranger with his parents eight years later. He was a member of the First Christian Church. Ford was Co-Captain of the Ranger Bulldog football team, and was a letter-man for three years. He was named to the all-district and all-area teams last season. The Ranger Lions Club presented him with the outstanding letter-man trophy for 1959 at a football banquet recently, at which he also served as master of ceremonies. He was the Senior class president, a member of the Student Council at Ranger High School. He had participated in the Junior and Senior class plays. He held the second to highest Scout rank, a Life Scout in Explorer Post 16 of Ranger. He was an active leader in school, club and church activities. Survivors at the time of his death include the parents, Mr. & Mrs. E.E. Ford, one sister Barbara A. (RHS-1963), and one brother Emery E. Jr. (RHS-1967), both of the home. Maternal grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. T. Y. Sunday of Iowa Colony, TX, great-grandmothers, Mrs. George Sunday of Montgomery and Mrs. M.M. Pouncey of Cleveland, TX. Pallbearers were Jim Robinson, Richard Jolly, James Henry, Charles White, Jerry Anderson, Homer Montgomery, Richard Robie and Bobby Fron, with burial in the Forrest Park Cemetery at Pearland near Houston. Tommy Ford with 1955 Chevy Tommy Ford honored by classmates on 50th anniversary in 2010 Mike Herrington, Mac Jacoby, & Betty Koerner Gilbert with granddaughter Melissa Myers. Tommy Ford's graveside revisited in 2010 I wrote the original obituary/news story in our hometown paper back in 1960. I also got to accompany family and pallbearers to the burial site back then. On August 17, 2010, I found and revisited Tommy's grave. His tombstone reads "Tommy B. Ford." I think he was doing some wishful thinking years ago when he told me his full name was Thomas Eugene Briggs Ford II. Eugene is the name of both his dad and little brother. The cemetery is now known as South Park and lies on North Main Street, more or less, between Pearland and Alvin. Both Mr. & Mrs. Ford and Emery, Jr. are buried beside Tommy & next to many of Mrs. Ford's family, the Sundays, including Tommy's grandfather, Thomas Yancey Sunday. Interestingly, the opening scenes from the movie "Urban Cowboy", starring John Travolta, were filmed in South Park Cemetery, not far from Tommy's grave site. Picture Mike Herrington (RHS-1960)