Pictured above: Liz and John Ford in 2009 outside the three story building they built in Coral Bay opposite the Romeo Company Fire Station. Photo courtesy of St. John Tradewinds archives. [hr gap=”1″]
BLACKSHEAR, GA — St. John businessman John Ford was killed in a mid air plane crash on October 21, 2016. He was 65 years old.
Ford was the proprietor of Town and Country Real Estate in the 1990s and early 200s. His company built the three story building opposite the Romeo Company Fire Station in Coral Bay.
A warm and neighborly man, Ford and his wife Liz raised two sons on St. John and were supporters of Kids and the Sea as well as Gifft Hill School during their years here.
John and Liz Ford told of their love for St. John on the Town and Country website. The couple came to St. John after completing a circumnavigation with their children aboard their 46 ft. yawl, Castanet.
They said they found Coral Bay to be “a fun and exciting place to live.” For the next nine years they made their boat their home and bought a parcel of land in Upper Carolina, working towards the day they could that home instead.
Ford shared a love of adventure with his family, on land, at sea and in the air. It was fitting to some of those who knew him that his last moments were spent practicing to perform in an air show.
The performance group is called RedStar Fly. For the past twenty years the group, made up of about 40 planes and pilots, has put on an annual air show at the Ware County Airport. Ford was described as a skilled pilot.
Police in Georgia are investigating the cause of the fatal crash. Other pilots who were practicing formations at the time of the accident returned safely to their base.
