Joe Allen Ford, Sr.

MOORINGSPORT, LA - A Celebration of Life service for Joe Allen Ford, Sr., 73, will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, September 9, 2016 at First Baptist Church of Blanchard, LA 201 Attaway St., Blanchard, with Bro. Doug Allen and Bro. Dale Sauls officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Mooringsport, LA. Visitation with the family will be held prior to the service beginning at 11:00 a.m. until service time. Joe was born February 4, 1943 in Shreveport, and passed away suddenly September 5, 2016. Joe grew up with a wonderful foster family and never felt like nor did he consider them anything other than "his family". He went to Greenwood School in Greenwood, LA and finished at Fair Park High School in Shreveport. After proudly serving in the US Army Reserves, Joe joined the Shreveport Police Department and served his community for 21 years and retired as a Lieutenant. After retirement, Joe and his wife, Sharon, owned and operated the Soap Opera Laundry Mat on Greenwood Rd. in Shreveport where they were known to do thousands of pounds of laundry from Willis Knighton North on a weekend. Later they owned and operated a feed store which began in Greenwood and then moved to Longwood, LA which became a gathering place for friends and customers. Joe was an active member and Ordained Deacon of First Baptist Church of Blanchard and Cross Brand Cowboy Church. He worshiped his God, loved his family and his church. Joe was a devoted and loving husband, father, brother and friend. He will truly be missed. Joe was preceded in death by his parents, Henry Frank Stevens and Alice Selena Flowers Stevens, sisters, Lucy Garcia and Mary Jane Rasberry, brother, Tony DeVincent, and Ivy and Elizabeth Poole, who thought of him as their son. His special 4-legged companions, dog, Cali and pot-bellied pig, Bubba. Left to cherish Joe's memory are his loving and devoted wife of 54 years, Sharon Rose Betts Ford; son, Joe Allen Ford, Jr. and his wife, Kelli; daughter, Terri Jo Ford Richardson and her husband, Pat; grandchildren, Mandi Viola and her husband, J.E., Patrick Richardson, Caleb Ford, and Caitlyn Ford; great-grandchildren, Rowdy Viola and Langston Viola; sisters, Beverly Mitchell and Barbara Joy Johnson; along with numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family, friends and his precious Chihuahua, Jazz. Honoring Joe as pallbearers will be his three grandsons, Patrick Richardson, Caleb Ford, and J.E. Viola; and MacArthur Cocherall, Tony Naquin, and Lester Drach. In lieu of flowers the family suggest memorial donations in Joe's name may be made to Cross Brand Cowboy Church, a ministry of First Baptist Church of Blanchard.