Clarence V. "Clay" Ford (September 24, 1938 – March 18, 2013) was an attorney and Republican politician from the Pensacola, Florida suburb of Gulf Breeze, who since 2007 represented District 2 in the Florida House of Representatives.
A native of Wynne in Cross County in eastern Arkansas, Ford was married to Carol Ann Ford and had three children, David, Doug, and Clay, and seven grandchildren. He served in the Infantry in the United States Army, Army Reserve, and the Arkansas National Guard from 1955 to 1988. He advanced through the ranks from private to colonel. In 1969, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from the University of Arkansas. In 1978, he obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law. In 1986, he received a Master of Science in Public Administration from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1975 to 1976. From 1977 to 1979, he was a member of the Special School District Board in Pulaski County, Arkansas. He was a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention held in 1978 and 1979.
After moving to Florida, he served on the Gulf Breeze City Council from 1990 to 2007 and was president of the Florida League of Cities from 2004 to 2005. On February 27, 2007, he was elected to the Florida House to succeed Holly Benson, who had been appointed to head the Department of Business and Professional Regulation by then Governor Charlie Crist. He was re-elected in November 2008.
He was a Methodist and a member of the American Legion, the Arkansas Bar Association, and the Florida Bar. He was a member of the Gulf Breeze Chamber of Commerce and the Gulf Breeze Rotary International. He was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. He received endorsements from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Right to Life, and the National Rifle Association.
The Florida Legislature recognized Representative Clay Ford by naming the Minority Scholarship for accounting students the Clay Ford Scholarship Program in the 2013 Legislative Session.
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford said of his death: "The consummate gentleman of the House, Clay Ford was a friend, a mentor, and a tender conscience to all those who served with him. Last night, Clay lost his brave fight with cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Carol, his three sons David, Doug, and Clay, and his nine grandchildren."
Famous quotes containing the words clay and/or ford:
“You may melt your metals and cast them into the most beautiful moulds you can; they will never excite me like the forms which this molten earth flows out into. And not only it, but the institutions upon it are plastic like clay in the hands of the potter.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)