EVENT
Gary Fords’s Esperance Historical Society Program
May 31 at the Stone Church at 2 pm 123 Church st.
In “Capturing Their Pasts - My Heroes, Their Stories” I present some of the stories that veterans shared with my students as part of an Oral History Project. We interviewed over 120 veterans from WWII to the present and each one of those veterans is a hero to me, and each story is a tribute to their service and their sacrifices. I speak for them now because so many of them no longer can. I am humbled to be able to do this presentation the week after Memorial Day.
Gary Ford – VITA
• Taught American History in Rome for 33 years
• Helped create the Veterans Oral History Project which interviewed and archived the stories of over 120 local
veterans
• Chosen 3 times as “Most Influential Educator” and twice
as “Teacher of they Year”
• Received the “Medal of ’77 Award” from the Rome
Historical Society
• Trustee for the Genesis Group of the Greater Mohawk
Valley
• Former Councilman in the Town of Marshall and founding
member and Chairman of the Southern Oneida County
Council of Governments
• Facilitator for Legacy NOW Leadership Program
• Created and presented two plays for the Rome
Community Center, “Three Conversations” and “Voices
From the Wall”
• Whimsical Woodworker