Lucy Josephine (Lou Jo) Collier Ford, 1936 – 2022

Our loving mother, Lucy Josephine (Lou Jo) Collier Ford, passed away from this earthly life on Saturday, July 9 after a heroic fight with COPD. She was 86.

She was the daughter of the late Jessie Everett and Wille Estell Tingle Collier. She was born and raised in Reedtown, MS and had lived just outside of Utica, MS for the better part of 68 years. She loved her family and treasure each of them, committing them to memory and being able to share her knowledge of the family tree at a moment’s notice. She was a member of the Utica Christian Church.

Mama loved birds, especially hummingbirds. She kept her feeders full and enjoyed sitting outside watching the tiny birds as they flittered here and there. She also loved flowers and her yard was often filled with the sweet fragrance of blooming blossoms. She also loved to “treasure” hunt and was thrilled with any small fragment she found, often being able to tell stories surrounding the history of the “find”. She also loved reading to her children when they were little, a favorite being Old Yeller, which she would read until she was hoarse. She continued the tradition with her grandchildren. A friend recalled that she always had a cup of good coffee ready and waiting and made the best chicken and dumplings of anyone they had ever known.

Preceded her in death were her loving husband, Tommy Milton Ford of Utica, her parents, her grandparents, Elex and Maddie Haynes Tingle, and Lucy Caston Reed Collier and Percy Harvey Collier, four sisters: Christine Collier Ault of Metarie, Louisiana, Lessie Collier Maples of Mobile, Alabama, Joyce Collier Zelesket of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, Annette Collier Lovitt of Pachuta, MS, and her brother Jessie Clayton Collier of New Mexico.

She is survived by her three children, Sylvia Ford Opiela (Ted), Milton Wayne Ford (Elsie) and Tommy Everett Ford (Stacey); her grandchildren Melissa Opiela Hughes (Randall), Lori Opiela-Dickerson (Lindsey), Christopher Opiela (Meseret), Lucy Ford, Amanda Burt (Matt), Stephen and Matthew Ford as well as her great-grandchildren Stephen, Austin, Emmalyn, Anna, Ryan, Sera, Hailey, Mackenzie, Maddie, Nezzy, Amariah, Alexis and Aiden; her great-great-grandchildren Ivy, Madden and Jaxon and her sister Carolyn Rose Collier Wicks of Longview, Texas as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

The family will receive relatives and friends at Glenwood Funeral Home in Utica on Tuesday, July 12 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. with a graveside service in the Utica Cemetery at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 13 with Brother Brad Hartzog officiating. As requested by his great grandmother Austin Hughes will read “Safely Home” and her grandson Christopher Opiela will read the 23 Psalm.

Pallbearers will be grandsons Christopher Opiela, Stephen and Matthew Ford, and great-grandsons Stephen Hughes, Austin Hughes, and Ryan Basham with great grandson Aiden Burt serving as honorary pallbearers.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial tributes be made to the Utica Christian Church or to the Utica Cemetery Association.