Ita Ford | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1940-04-23)April 23, 1940 |
| Died | December 2, 1980(1980-12-02) (aged 40) |
| Cause of death | Murder by militarydeath squad |
| Resting place | Chalatenango,El Salvador |
| Occupation | Maryknoll Missionary Sister |
| Parent(s) | William P. Ford, Sr., & Mildred Teresa O'Beirne |
| Relatives | William P. Ford, Jr., (brother) & BishopFrancis Xavier Ford, M.M. |
Ita Ford, M.M. (April 23, 1940 – December 2, 1980) was an AmericanMaryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and warrefugees. On December 2, 1980, shewas beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries —Dorothy Kazel,Maura Clarke andJean Donovan — by members of themilitary of El Salvador.
Born inBrooklyn, New York, on April 23, 1940, Ford was the daughter of William Patrick Ford, an insurance man who took early retirement due totuberculosis, and Mildred Teresa O'Beirne Ford, a public-school teacher. She had an older brother,William P. Ford (1936–2008) and a younger sister, Irene. The family lived in Brooklyn.[1] William Patrick Ford was related to Austin B. Ford, whose son,Francis Xavier Ford (1892–1952), was the firstseminarian to apply to the newly establishedMaryknoll Fathers in 1911 and, after being ordained as a missionary in 1917, went to China, where he became a bishop and a martyr. He died in aCommunist prison camp there in 1952, when his young "cousin" Ita was twelve.[1][2]
Although her mother taught in the public school system, Ita Ford was educated in parochial schools, beginning at age five in the Visitation Academy in Bay Ridge, run by theVisitation Sisters, a semi-cloistered order. She attendedFontbonne Hall Academy, a high school operated by theSisters of St. Joseph, where she worked on the school newspaper.[1] Finally, from 1957 to 1961, she attendedMarymount Manhattan College, founded by theReligious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. (Marymount Manhattan split from its mother school,Marymount College, in 1961).[1][3] Following in her relative the Bishop's footsteps, Ford had confided in a high school friend at the age of fifteen that she not only wanted to be a nun, she specifically felt called to be aMaryknoll missionary sister.[1] Even before her college graduation in 1966, Ford had a vocational counselor advising her about her fitness for Maryknoll.[1] She entered theMaryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic at the age of twenty-one. Entering religious life had been difficult, she described it as lonely in an inner sense. Three years later, out of concern for her personal health, she had to leave the formation program.
After working seven years as an editor at Sadlier Publishers, Ford reapplied and was again accepted by the MaryknollSisters in 1971.[3] After serving briefly in Bolivia in 1972, she moved to Chile a short time before the militarycoup, during a time of chaos, there on September 11, 1973.[4] Ford lived in a poor shantytown with Sister Carla Piette, M.M., in Santiago, where they ministered to the needs of the people, especially those who lived inpoverty.[3] Her time in Chile had a big effect on her. It was here that she learned what was expected of her in helping the poor.
After spending a required "reflection year" in theUnited States, 1978–1979, before taking permanentreligious vows in March 1980, Ford moved with Piette from Chile toEl Salvador, arriving the day ofÓscar Romero's funeral.[4] In June of that year, they began working with the Emergency Refugee Committee inChalatenango. In this mission, Ford worked with the poor and war victims, providing food, shelter, transportation and burial.
Ita and sister Carol knew the dangers they were putting themselves in by feeding the homeless in an oppressive society. Even with that knowledge Ita continued to help feed the homeless.
After the death of Sister Carol in a flash flood on August 23, 1980—a flood which nearly cost Ford her own life, saved only by Piette's help in pushing her from the overwhelmed vehicle. The death of Carol had a lasting impact on Ita. She wondered why she had lived when her friend had not. Ford was joined on the mission byMaura Clarke, aMaryknoll sister who was already in El Salvador in contemplation of a mission assignment. Altogether, Piette and Ford had worked together in Chile and El Salvador for seven years, until their deaths barely three months apart on December 2, 1980.
“Sister Ita Ford, MM.” Archives, April 23, 2014. https://maryknollmissionarchives.org/deceased-sisters/sister-ita-ford-mm/.
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