Dominican Sister of Peace Joan Marie (Trinitas) Ford, died at Mohun Health Care Center, Columbus, OH on October 15, 2021.
Sister Joan was born in 1930 in Columbus, OH, to Dorothy Woolley and Glen Ford.
She was introduced to Catholicism as a student at Saint Mary of the Springs Academy and asked to be baptized at the age of sixteen. She entered the Congregation in 1951, and served God and God’s people faithfully for sixty-eight years.
Sister Joan earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from Ohio Dominican University and her Master of Arts in Reading from Marygrove College. She was well-prepared for her more than four decades of ministry in education, teaching in elementary schools in Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Texas.
Sister Joan loved teaching because, as she said, “through teaching I am reaching and sharing something special with someone else. Hoping to impart, not only knowledge and a spirit of interest, I enjoy working to motivate and most of all to develop self-esteem in those who need it most.”
She responded to God’s summons to teach disadvantaged students and worked with Head Start and other inner-city educational programs while teaching at Pope John the XXIII school in downtown Columbus, OH. Sister Joan also taught theology and Spanish at Ohio Dominican.
Even after her retirement from teaching, Sr. Joan continued to serve others. She ministered to the elderly at Nazareth Towers and as a receptionist at the Dominican Learning Center, volunteered at the Humane Society, and advocated for environmental rights. She was also an artist and poet who enjoyed showing and sharing her work from her room at the Mohun Care Center.
She was preceded in death by her parents Glen Ford and Dorothy Carr Wooley and her brother, Dave. She is survived by her sister, Nancy Hewitt and her brother Douglas as well as nieces and nephews.
A vigil service was held on October 26, and a private funeral service was held on October 27 at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse Chapel. Sr. Joan Marie Ford was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Columbus, OH.
To donate in Sr. Joan Marie’s memory, please click here.
To download a printable copy of this memorial, click here.
Memorial gifts in Sr. Lin Howley’s memory may be also be sent to the Dominican Sisters of Peace, Office of Mission Advancement, 2320 Airport Dr, Columbus, OH 43219.