"On December 3, 1960, the following persons met in the office of Mr. Sam Stevenson of 2 1/2  Main Street, Concord, NH for the purpose of planning for a Mineral Club to be started in Concord: Sam Stevenson, Lawrence Rising, Clayton Ford, James B. Moore, Paul R. MacCoy, Arthur Henderson, & Maurice Dupuis."  One of these gentlemen was Clayton Ford of Meredith, NH who passed away on November 7th, the last of the founding members of our 51 year old organization.
According to minutes taken that first full year of 1961, the Club organized with a Board of Directors, a set of by-laws, and a field trip committee.  Clayton was a member of all these planning groups, including monthly program ideas.  For instance, Clayton proposed discussing a different group of minerals at each meeting , using Dana's Textbook of Minerals as a guide.  He often led the discussions while members displayed specimens from their own collections.  He later (1965) chaired a series of short talks on various New Hampshire minerals to help newcomers identify their finds.
In 1970 the founding members were presented with a gift of appreciation.  At another time Clayton was designated an Honorary Member.
In 1975 Clayton Ford was listed as a member of the Micromounter Group within the Capital Mineral Club; some of those meetings were held at the Ford home.  In the July/August 1976 Rocks and Minerals Magazine, John Reiner asked Clayton to fill-in as an author of John's "Thumbnail" column.  Clayton wrote an interesting and amusing article reminiscing about his collecting experiences, often with his pal, Paul
Burroughs.  Especially graphic was his account of relocating the lost (for 30 years) Island Mine in Alstead, by wading waist deep across a swamp!  In that R&M article he revealed that he kept a notebook on the more than 40 different localities in NH that he had visited.  Some of them he returned to many times.
Clayton also faceted and cabbed gemstones, many of them from specimens he found, himself.
Dr. John Sampson White was a frequent visitor at the Ford home when he was curator at the Smithsonian Institution.  Clayton was very proud that some of his NH finds were in the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian.  Clayton is remembered for his finds of hydroxyl herderite and brazilianite.
An article, which he and his wife, Rita wrote for the Capital Mineral Club bulletin, tells how he was interested in minerals from early childhood.  He often visited his grandfather and uncles who lived in North Groton near the Fletcher and Valencia Mines.  His father's family was very much involved in local mica mining and granite quarrying.  His Uncle Perry worked at the Palermo Mine as a teenager in the early 1900's when it was known as the Hartford Mine.  With that background, it is no wonder that he became fascinated with mines and minerals. 
When Clayton died, he was 84.  He was born and lived in Laconia, and he later resided in Meredith.  He served in World War II in the Army and was awarded the Purple Heart.  He was a member of the
Disabled American Veterans.  Clayton worked as a machinist for Scott and Williams and Crane Manufacturing. 
His first wife Grace passed away in 1972.  Survivors include two sons, two daughters, a brother, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.  His present wife, Rita, lives in their home in Meredith.
With Clayton's death, it is certainly the end of an era.  He was a talented and hard working member of our Capital Mineral Club, and he and other early members leave a legacy of dedication to our Club and our avocation.

Thanks to Gordon Jackson, historian and researcher, Clayton's son, Wayne Ford, Norm Biggart and Dana Jewell for their memories and research.