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Mrs. Esther Lorraine (Ford) Muniz, age 89 years 294 days, passed away Sunday, January 31, 2010, after a short stay at the hospital.

Esther was born in Salem on April 12, 1920, the oldest child and daughter of James Clifford Ford and Golda Faye (Bland) Ford. She married Henry Muniz of Spelter, WV, in 1951 and they made Clarksburg their home. Henry was born November 5^th 1919, and he died Jan 11^th 1989.

Esther gave birth to two sons and is survived by them, Lemeul Brent Muniz, January 4^th, 1956 and Benjamin Frederick Muniz, April 23^rd, 1957.  She is also survived by Benji’s wife, Rebecca Muniz.

Esther was raised by her mother and father in a loving family home in Salem with her two younger sisters, Endress June (Ford) Barker and Virginia May (Ford) Jenkins along with her youngest brother Hayward Lynn Ford. She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings.

Her childhood was spent in and around Harrison and Doddridge Counties in WV where she enjoyed her formative years around her extended family. Raised during the Depression she was shaped by its’ deprivations and was frugal and very industrious to the end. Responsibility came early when her mother contracted TB and was hospitalized so Esther took care of and helped raise her brother Hayward whom she considered like a son.

She learned to farm from her father and kept a small garden and canned most of her life. On their farm in East Salem, her father JC raised cows, pigs, fightin’ roosters and chickens and the family pitched in with all the work. She could milk any cow and because most of the family hunted she could cook a fine meal out of any wild game or fish.  She also told tales of riding in the Model-T over to Big Flint before it was paved hoping not to get stuck if it rained and seeing the first airplane over Salem. From the beginning, she sewed and became an excellent seamstress. Over the course of her life she quilted creating many masterpieces and even to her last she knitted daily. She also enjoyed making ceramics and pottery and giving them out as gifts.  

Esther loved country music often traveling to see it live including trips to Branson and Nashville. From a young child she played the dulcimer and was raised listening to the Jamboree USA on the radio. In recent years, she followed country music especially watching the Grand Ole Opry and music programs on TV. 

She attended Salem High School and graduated in 1939 and attended Salem College until World War II. Answering the call for women to man the defense factories, she and several of her girlfriends moved to Baltimore, MD and went to work for the defense contractor Glen L. Martin (now Lockheed Martin) building our allied air force. At first she worked in one of the many supply warehouses and then later on moved to a milling machine and metal saw. The Glenn L. Martin Company produced over 80 different types of aircraft during the war totaling more than 11,000 planes, including the Boeing B-29s (50 of which were the "Atomic Bombers" including the Enola Gay and BOCKSCAR).

After the war, living in Baltimore, she visited home as frequently as she could. During her absence, her father JC befriended her soon to be husband, Henry, because they were both involved in raising and fighting gamecocks. Esther and Henry met during one of those fateful visits and after a short courtship, he became her husband of 37 years. Once she had children, she left behind her switchboard operator job at the WV Department of Highways, to become a stay at home mom for 12 years. A wonderful mother, she kept an open door to the neighborhood kids as she fed, nurtured and disciplined all. 

In the late sixties, when the factory closings happened in Harrison County she returned to work as Henry was laid off. Becoming for a short while the primary breadwinner for the family, she went back to work at the West Virginia Department of Highways in the accounting department working a total of 23 years then retiring.  Retirement brought on another life for her as she traveled extensively with her cadre of girlfriends visiting many attractions in the eastern US. She also loved to visit the Senior Citizens Center in Clarksburg.  

 Family meant the world to her and she stayed in contact with many until her death.  She regularly attended the Ford and Bland Reunions from their inceptions. She missed one Ford reunion in her life and in 2009 she finally brought home the Ford Loving Cup for the longest lived Ford. She was also a 50 plus year member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.   She is a direct descendent of William P. Lowther, the first sheriff of Harrison County and the builder of Nutter’s Fort. She is also a direct descendant of Joseph Bland, an original settler of Jamestown Va. coming over with Captain John Smith. She is also a direct descendent of Duncan, the 1^st King of Scotland.

Those who knew her loved her as she was kind and thoughtful to all. She had many cherished relatives including a favorite friend and confidant her sister-in-law, Betty Ford. Also special in her life was her niece Debbie (Ford) Veltri. She also enjoyed the company of her many nieces and nephews as well as her two step-granddaughters and one step-great-granddaughter.

She will be missed greatly. She was kind, loyal, inspirational, funny, wry, gentle, very special, and a hard worker.    

Family and friends will be received at Burnside Funeral Home, 607 S. Virginia Avenue, Bridgeport on Wednesday from 2 – 8 pm, where services will be held at 11 am on Thursday, February 4, 2010, with Revered Lester Stinebiser presiding.  She will be laid to rest beside her husband Henry at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens, Quiet Dell.

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