Susan Ford
Encyclopedia
Susan Elizabeth Ford Bales (born July 6, 1957) is an American
author
, photojournalist, and former chairman of the board of the Betty Ford Center
for alcohol and drug abuse.
. She was one of three people targeted for violence by the Symbionese Liberation Army
and had Secret Service
protection well before her father became president. As a teenager attending the Holton-Arms School
in Bethesda, Maryland
, she held her senior prom in the East Room
of the White House. She served as official White House hostess
when her mother was hospitalized for breast cancer.
, Newsweek
, Money Magazine
, Ladies Home Journal, the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Omaha Sun and also freelanced
. She was hired to shoot publicity stills for the film Jaws 2
, with many appearing in Ray Loynd's book Jaws 2 Log.
In 1992 she became a member of the board of the Betty Ford Center
and in 2005 became the chairman of the organization. She succeeded her mother, who remained a board member.
setting; a sequel, Sharp Focus, was published in 2005.
. During that period, she attended each of the services and ceremonies with her mother, and over the course of several days personally greeted mourners while President Ford's casket lay-in-state on the Lincoln Catafalque in the Capital Rotunda and during the public repose at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She read a passage from the Letter 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 Church in Grand Rapids. In addition, on January 1, she assisted her mother in receiving dignitaries and other official visitors who had come to Blair House to pay their personal respects.
On January 16, 2007, Susan Ford spoke at a Naming Ceremony at the Pentagon. http://www.gvsu.edu/ford/index.cfm?id=64CE86AD-B639-5F3E-1D2A21C288593229 At the ceremony, the aircraft carrier CVN-78, now under construction, was officially named the . That same day Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter announced that Ford had been named the carrier's ceremonial sponsor. On November 14, 2009, Ford participated in the keel laying for the ship.,
On June 11, 2007, she delivered remarks in Washington, D.C. at the ceremony unveiling the U.S. Postal Service's image of the commemorative stamp honoring President Ford. In July 2007, Ford represented her mother at the funeral service of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson
. Also in July 2007, she and her husband Vaden Bales represented Mrs. Ford and the Ford family at the naming of the Gerald R. Ford Post Office in Vail, Colorado
.
In 1984, Ford and her mother, Betty Ford, helped launch National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
with a joint appearance in an ad campaign.
She and her husband lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after their marriage on July 25, 1989. In 1997 they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they lived for nearly 12 years before returning to Tulsa in 2009. Like her parents and brothers, Ford is Episcopalian
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, photojournalist, and former chairman of the board of the Betty Ford Center
Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center , is a non-profit, separately licensed residential chemical dependency recovery hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, that offers inpatient, outpatient, and day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions as well as prevention and education programs for family and children...
for alcohol and drug abuse.
Youth
Ford is the youngest child and only daughter of the late U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and his wife the late Betty FordBetty Ford
Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford , better known as Betty Ford, was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband Gerald Ford...
. She was one of three people targeted for violence by the Symbionese Liberation Army
Symbionese Liberation Army
The Symbionese Liberation Army was an American self-styled left-wing urban militant group active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a revolutionary vanguard army...
and had Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
protection well before her father became president. As a teenager attending the Holton-Arms School
Holton-Arms School
Holton-Arms is an independent college-preparatory school for girls in grades 3–12, located in Bethesda, Maryland. The School's mission is to cultivate the unique potential of young women through the “education not only of the mind, but of the soul and spirit.” Holton-Arms is an independent...
in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
, she held her senior prom in the East Room
East Room
The East Room is the largest room in the White House, the home of the president of the United States. It is used for entertaining, press conferences, ceremonies, and occasionally for a large dinner...
of the White House. She served as official White House hostess
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
when her mother was hospitalized for breast cancer.
Career
Ford Bales trained as a photographer and worked as a photojournalist for the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, Money Magazine
Money Magazine
Money Magazine is a business news and financial programme that is broadcast on Sundays at 7:00pm in Hong Kong by television channel TVB Pearl.-Producers and reporters:...
, Ladies Home Journal, the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Omaha Sun and also freelanced
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
. She was hired to shoot publicity stills for the film Jaws 2
Jaws 2
Jaws 2 is a 1978 thriller film and the first sequel to Steven Spielberg's Jaws , which is based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name...
, with many appearing in Ray Loynd's book Jaws 2 Log.
In 1992 she became a member of the board of the Betty Ford Center
Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center , is a non-profit, separately licensed residential chemical dependency recovery hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, that offers inpatient, outpatient, and day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions as well as prevention and education programs for family and children...
and in 2005 became the chairman of the organization. She succeeded her mother, who remained a board member.
Writings
In 2002, she wrote, with Laura Hayden, a novel, Double Exposure: A First Daughter Mystery, with a contemporary White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
setting; a sequel, Sharp Focus, was published in 2005.
Public duties
In recent years and in addition to her responsibilities at the Betty Ford Center, Ford has been very active on behalf of her parents and the Ford family at numerous events throughout the US. That was particularly so during the December 26, 2006 - January 3, 2007 state funeral services and ceremonies for her fatherDeath and state funeral of Gerald Ford
On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, at 6:45 p.m. local time . At 8:49 p.m...
. During that period, she attended each of the services and ceremonies with her mother, and over the course of several days personally greeted mourners while President Ford's casket lay-in-state on the Lincoln Catafalque in the Capital Rotunda and during the public repose at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She read a passage from the Letter 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 Church in Grand Rapids. In addition, on January 1, she assisted her mother in receiving dignitaries and other official visitors who had come to Blair House to pay their personal respects.
On January 16, 2007, Susan Ford spoke at a Naming Ceremony at the Pentagon. http://www.gvsu.edu/ford/index.cfm?id=64CE86AD-B639-5F3E-1D2A21C288593229 At the ceremony, the aircraft carrier CVN-78, now under construction, was officially named the . That same day Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter announced that Ford had been named the carrier's ceremonial sponsor. On November 14, 2009, Ford participated in the keel laying for the ship.,
On June 11, 2007, she delivered remarks in Washington, D.C. at the ceremony unveiling the U.S. Postal Service's image of the commemorative stamp honoring President Ford. In July 2007, Ford represented her mother at the funeral service of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and made that...
. Also in July 2007, she and her husband Vaden Bales represented Mrs. Ford and the Ford family at the naming of the Gerald R. Ford Post Office in Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado
The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,589 in 2005. The town was established and built as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which it was originally conceived...
.
Personal life
She married Charles Vance, one of her father's former U.S. Secret Service agents, on February 10, 1979. For a time they operated a private security company in Washington. They had two daughters, Tyne Mary (born 1980) and Heather Elizabeth (born 1983), but were divorced in 1988. Ford married attorney Vaden Bales in 1989.In 1984, Ford and her mother, Betty Ford, helped launch National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure...
with a joint appearance in an ad campaign.
She and her husband lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after their marriage on July 25, 1989. In 1997 they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they lived for nearly 12 years before returning to Tulsa in 2009. Like her parents and brothers, Ford is Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
.
External links
- Susan Ford on the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- "You Give Back, You Don't Give Up", PARADEParade (magazine)Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 500 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32.2 million and a readership of nearly 70...
- Just ask Chelsea, Jenna and Barbara: Escaping the glare of the spotlight isn't easy for kids whose dads work in the Oval Office - San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...