Kent Ford retired in 2014 from the Missouri Press Association, where he served as editor of the newspaper association's magazine. He grew up in Grundy Center, Wellsburg and Eldora, Iowa, and graduated from high school at Grinnell, Iowa.
Mr. Ford attended two years of college in Missouri, Metropolitan JC in Kansas City and Central Missouri State in Warrensburg, before joining the Navy in November 1968. He deployed to the Tonkin Gulf on the aircraft carriers USS America and USS Constellation. After his discharge in 1972, Ford attended the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Mr. Ford worked at newspapers in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, before purchasing the weekly newspaper in Oregon, Missouri. He and his wife, Sharon, published that paper for eight years. In 1989, Mr. Ford joined the Missouri Press Association.
The Fords, who continue to live in Columbia, will observe their 50th wedding anniversary in December 2020. They have a daughter, a son and six grandchildren.
