Derrlyn S. Ford

Derrlyn S. Ford, age 81, of New Philadelphia, passed away Monday, June 23, 2025, in Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital, Dover, following a brief illness.

Born January 6, 1944, in Bolivar, she was the daughter of the late Arthur and Bertha (Jones) Hess. Derrlyn attended school in Roseville, and later, on May 27, 1962, married Harry D. “Dan” Ford. The couple raised five children and shared 40 years of marriage prior to Dan’s passing on October 17, 2002. Derrlyn was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, whose life revolved around her family.

She is survived by her children, Eric Ford, Jacquelyn Smallwood, Starla (Don) Watson, Kimberly Meechan and Kurt (Vicki Lehigh) Ford; her grandchildren, Melissa Winkler, Kimberly Perez, Eric Ford Jr., Danielle Ford, Desiree Ross, Holly Bradford, Jared Smallwood and Sawyer Meechan; her 17 great-grandchildren; her sisters, Mary Swanson and Loretta Jacobs; and her nieces and nephews.

Besides her parents and her husband, Dan, Derrlyn was preceded in death by her granddaughter, Summers Myers, and her eight sisters and one brother.

Private services will be held in New Philadelphia’s Evergreen Burial Park.