James “Jimmy” Franklin Ford, Jr., beloved husband, father, son, brother, nephew, cousin, in-law, friend and neighbor, transitioned peacefully from his home in Winston-Salem to the Holy City of God on August 12, 2026, after a valiant battle with cancer. He was 67.

One of four children of Parphinia (née Hannon) and James Franklin Ford Sr., Jimmy was born, raised, and lived his entire life in Winston-Salem. He attended grade school at St. Benedict the Moor Catholic School, junior high at Carver, and graduated from North Forsyth High School.

Many people will remember Jimmy as the son of “The Milkman” known colloquially as “Bro Ford.” Mr. Ford and his wife operated a milk distribution business for four decades, primarily in Winston-Salem but also in King, Mocksville, and Kernersville. The property on which they lived and operated the business was large enough to accommodate a fleet of delivery trucks, as well as a horse the couple bought for Jimmy. The first-person Jimmy rode to see and pick up on his gift horse was his high-school sweetheart and future bride, Glorecia, “Gloria” and “Glo”, whom he met when they were 7th graders.

Together, Jimmy and Gloria have one daughter, La’Tisha Ford—her dad’s lookalike “twin.” On October 10, 2026, the couple would have celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary. Jimmy had a deep, resonate voice, and his favorite singer was the bass-baritone Barry White. He especially loved White’s 1974 hit, “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything”, and would sing this refrain to his wife, even after he became seriously ill.

As a teenager, Jimmy helped with the family business, delivering milk products, cold cuts, sausage and fresh fish. The poor, the elderly, women and their children benefited greatly from the delivery service, which allowed them to buy on contract, which they could not do in stores. This practice instilled within Jimmy a lifelong spirit of service to the least among us. In addition to working for Ford Distribution Co., his employment extended to R.J. Reynolds and the former Johnson Controls automotive battery manufacturing plant. Jimmy was an exceedingly kind and decent man of integrity who never hesitated to help anyone he encountered. Like his late parents, he believed in service to community and thoroughly embraced the bible teaching that faith without works is dead. He put his faith to work with random acts of kindness both big and small. He cut neighbors’ grass, without their asking, routinely left cold bottled water for the workers that collected trash on the street where he lived for 39 years, used his big white truck to haul heaps of compost, sweet potatoes, berries, fresh-picked greens, whatever- to give away at no charge to friends and neighbors. He was so trusted by neighbors that when a new family moved into a nearby house, they walked over and gave Jimmy an extra key on their very first day. When asked why, they told him the former homeowners had spoken so highly of him.

Jimmy was devoted to family and thought nothing of rising at 3 a.m. to drive to Concord, NC to transport a cousin to the hospital for a 6:30 a.m. heart procedure, so the cousin wouldn’t be alone going in and coming out of the surgery. He routinely honored requests from his late mother’s only surviving sister, Barbara Hannon Griffin, to till her garden, fix a broken kitchen drawer, find her a handyman to replace a leaky faucet, etc. After being diagnosed with cancer, all the good that Jimmy had done for others came back to him in full measure. Family, friends and neighbors called, visited him at home and in the hospital, sat by his bedside, brought him food—neighbor Matthew Cranfill, a City of W-S fire engineer, picked up Jimmy in his truck during a terrible winter ice storm to drive him to the hospital to keep an appointment with his surgeons. The trash collectors that he and his wife left water for rushed to offer aid and support when they saw an ambulance with flashing lights parked in front of his home.

Jimmy asked his Aunt Barbara, and she obliged, to visit him as often as possible because in her, he saw the face of his late mother and felt comforted. He was a mama’s boy, and his mother dearly loved him. When his mother grew old, Jimmy and his wife committed to taking her to Sunday service at Dellabrook Presbyterian Church, where Parphinia and Bro Ford were founding members, and where they had raised their children. The night before he died, Jimmy’s sister Pam recited a prayer to him that their parents had taught them to say as children.

Jimmy was preceded in death by his eldest daughter, Tabitha, who died when she was a week old; his parents; a sister, Alma Jean Ford Horton; and nephew, Chase Cloud.

Left to cherish his memory are his precious wife Gloria; darling daughter, Tish; his “granddog”, Fauci- who was adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic; his dear sisters, Margaret Ann Ford and Pamela Terry both of Atlanta; brother, Eric Kirk Hannon Ford of Thailand; nephew, Chance Cloud; a host of nieces, grandnieces, nephews, grandnephews, cousins, and in-laws; two special nursing friends and coworkers of his daughter Tish, Tyler Thompson and Lakiya Ulmar Cabbell- both of whom Jimmy referred to as his God-children; other relatives and friends.

A viewing will be held from 1:00pm until 5:00pm Friday, August 21, 2026 at Russell Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be held at 2:30pm Saturday, August 22, 2026 at the Russell Funeral Home Chapel. The family visitation will be held from 1:30pm until 2:30pm on Saturday at the Chapel.

Special thanks to dear friend and neighbor, Cheryl Morrison- a physician’s assistant with Novant Health; two relatives and a neighbor that spent hours caring for Jimmy while his wife and daughter worked, beloved cousins William “Billy” Tillerson and Michael B. Griffin; cherished neighbor, Thad Beamer; the entire team at the Novant Cancer Center, especially Dr. Garrett Sherwood- an oncologist specializing in lung cancer and thoracic malignancies; neurosurgeon, Dr. Michaux Kilpatrick; and all the doctors, surgeons, and support staff that treated the family with dignity, respect and warmth.