to Memorialize Late President FordThe Gerald R. Ford Memorial Committee is seeking suggestions from Alexandria residents on ways for the City to permanently memorialize the late President Ford. Suggestions for the memorial will be accepted through Monday, April 30,
Alexandria is honored to have been the home of Gerald R. Ford and his family for more than 20 years. Gerald Ford and his family moved to a rental property in Parkfairfax in 1951, when he was in his second term in Congress (R-Michigan). The family moved to their home at 514 Crown View Drive, in Alexandria’s Clover neighborhood, in the spring of 1955, where they remained until a few days after he became President of the United States.
During Ford’s 12th term in Congress, President Nixon nominated him as Vice President upon the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew. Ford became Vice President on December 6, 1973. President Nixon, embroiled in the Watergate scandal, resigned less than a year later, and Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States on August 9, 1974. President Ford and his family continued to live at Crown View Drive for ten days before moving to the White House.
During the Fords’ years in Alexandria, they were active in community affairs and the children attended Alexandria City Public Schools. According to Mayor Euille, who attended T. C. Williams High School with the two oldest Ford sons, Mr. Ford visited the schools “as a parent, a speaker to government classes, and an athletic booster for his sports-minded children.”
President Ford passed away on December 26, 2006, at the age of 93. In honor of his years in Alexandria, his funeral motorcade passed through Alexandria on December 30, as it traveled from Andrews Air Force Base en route to the U. S. Capitol. Hundreds of Alexandrians lined the streets to say farewell to one of their most famous residents.
