Susan Ford Bales | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bales in 2023 | |
| 2nd Chairwoman of theBetty Ford Center | |
| Assumed office January 25, 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Betty Ford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Susan Elizabeth Ford (1957-07-06)July 6, 1957 (age 67) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Steven Ford, brother |
| Occupation | |
Susan Elizabeth Ford Bales (born July 6, 1957) is an American author,photojournalist, and former chair of the board of theBetty Ford Center for alcohol and drug abuse. She is the only daughter ofGerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, and his wifeBetty Ford (née Bloomer).
Ford is the youngest child, and only daughter, of former U.S. PresidentGerald Ford and formerFirst LadyBetty Ford. As a teenager attending theHolton-Arms School inBethesda, Maryland, she held hersenior prom, for the class of 1975, in theEast Room of the White House.[1] She served as officialWhite House hostess when her mother was hospitalized for breast cancer.
Ford enrolled inMount Vernon College for Women (now part of theGeorge Washington University) in northwest Washington, D.C., in 1975 when her father was in the White House. She later briefly attended theUniversity of Kansas for the spring semester of 1977, but did not graduate.[2][3]
Bales trained as aphotographer and worked as aphotojournalist for theAssociated Press,Newsweek,Money Magazine,Ladies Home Journal,The Topeka Capital-Journal, theOmaha Sun and alsofreelanced.[4] She was hired to shoot publicity stills for the filmJaws 2,[5] with many appearing in Ray Loynd's bookJaws 2 Log.[6]
In 1992, she became a member of the board of theBetty Ford Center and in 2005 became chair of the organization. She succeeded her mother, who remained a board member.[7]
In 2002, Bales wrote, with Laura Hayden, a novel,Double Exposure: A First Daughter Mystery, with a contemporaryWhite House setting; in 2005, a sequel,Sharp Focus, was published.
Bales attendedthe December 26, 2006 – January 3, 2007 state funeral services and ceremonies for her father with her mother, and over the course of several days greeted mourners while President Ford's casket lay in state on theLincoln catafalque in the Capitol Rotunda and during the public repose at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[8] She read a passage from theEpistle of James during the funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral, and her daughter Tyne Berlanga offered one of the prayers during the funeral service at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids.[9] In addition, on January 1, she assisted her mother in receiving dignitaries and official visitors who had come toBlair House, the presidential guest house in Washington, to pay their respects.
On January 16, 2007, Bales spoke at a naming ceremony at the Pentagon[10] for the aircraft carrier CVN-78, which was officially named theGerald R. Ford. That same day, Secretary of the NavyDonald Winter announced that Bales had been named the carrier's ceremonial sponsor. On November 14, 2009, Bales participated in the keel laying for the ship.[11][12]
On June 11, 2007, she delivered remarks in Washington at the unveiling of the U.S. Postal Service's commemorative stamp honoring President Ford. In July 2007, Bales represented her mother at the funeral service of former First LadyLady Bird Johnson; in the same month, she and her husband Vaden Bales represented Mrs. Ford and the Ford family at the naming of the Gerald R. Ford Post Office inVail, Colorado.
On November 9, 2013, she christened theGerald R. Ford with a bottle of sparkling water.[13]
On April 8, 2016, during a change of command ceremony aboard USS Gerald R. Ford and in recognition of her "extraordinary service as CVN 78 Ship Sponsor", she was named an honorary naval aviator by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, thus becoming only the 31st person to receive this honor, and the first woman ever to be so honored.[14] The ship was commissioned asUSS Gerald R. Ford on July 22, 2017, with Bales in attendance to give the order, "Man our ship, and bring her to life."
In 2018, Bales represented the Ford family at the funerals of President George H.W. and First Lady Barbara Bush.
Susan E. Ford married Charles Vance, one of her father's formerU.S. Secret Service agents, on February 10, 1979. For a time, they operated a private security company in Washington. They have two daughters, Tyne Mary Vance (born 1980) and Heather Elizabeth Vance (born 1983). Susan and Charles Vance were divorced in 1988. Susan married attorney Vaden Bales on July 25, 1989. They lived inTulsa, Oklahoma before moving toAlbuquerque, New Mexico in 1997, where they lived for nearly 12 years before returning to Tulsa in 2009. They divorced in 2018 and Bales relocated toMcKinney, Texas.
In Betty Ford'sBetty – A Glad Awakening, her mother credits Susan with having orchestrated an intervention in 1982 after the Ford family became concerned with her drinking, addictions and behavior.[15]In 1984, along with her mother, Bales helped launchNational Breast Cancer Awareness Month[16] with a joint appearance in an ad campaign.
In 2010, at age 53, Bales went into sudden cardiac arrest while exercising on an elliptical machine. She had no prior knowledge that she had heart disease. Bales says she was "extremely lucky" that while she was in the gym, a surgeon was "walking up the steps" and "shocked" her back. She was revived with an automated external defibrillator. After her recovery, she was given a heart stent and pacemaker. She spoke of the experience on June 4, 2013, at theAmerican Heart Association's Heart Ball in Grand Rapids.[17]
Bales endorsedDemocratic candidateKamala Harris for President in the 2024 election.[18]
Susan Ford had a significant role in theShowtime television seriesThe First Lady, in which she is portrayed byDakota Fanning.[19]
Ford enrolled at KU for the spring semester of 1977, studying photojournalism.
| Honorary titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Chairwoman ofBetty Ford Center 2005–present | Succeeded by Incumbent |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
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