WAY BACK WHEN IN SENECA COUNTY: Prominent mathematician had ties to Ovid - Finger Lakes Times
Walter Burton Ford was a college mathematics professor and authored several college and high school mathematics textbooks. As a retired professor, Ford added to his fame in the Ovid community through his donations that made the present library and former municipal building possible. Many Ovid area residents fondly remember their contacts with Ford and/or his wife, Edith, in the years they resided at Elm Beach following his 1940 retirement from the University of Michigan. Walter Burton Ford was born in Oneonta on May 18, 1874, the son of Sylvester and Emogene Burton Ford. Ford graduated from Oneonta public schools and its State Normal School. In 1895, he enrolled at Harvard and graduated magna cum laude in 1897, receiving his master’s degree in 1898. Ford became a teacher at Albany Academy. The University of Michigan sent out a call to Harvard for a likely young man who could be hired as a math instructor and Harvard recommended Ford. The instructor job at Michigan made it financially possible for Ford to marry his girlfriend, Edith Banker, on Oct. Source: www.fltimes.com
