'A beacon of light': Edmond Fordham, a spiritual man and veteran Ocala educator, dies at 94

Edmond Fordham – husband, father, veteran, educator, school administrator, staunch civil rights advocate, dedicated member of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church and namesake of a new local education center – died on July 19, 2022. He was 94.

Fordham passed away quietly, according to his daughter Krista Fordham.

The Rev. Lorenzo Edwards, pastor of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church for 50 years before his retirement in 2018, said Fordham was a trustee and half-century-plus member of the church.

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"Edmond Fordham was a sustaining and stable member of the church, not subject to any religious 'mood swings' which may have come along," Edwards said.

Fordham was part of the civil rights movement activities that sprang from the Ocala church in the 1960s under the Rev. Frank Pinkston, Edwards said.

Fordham was concerned about "humanity and people" and doing what was "right and lasting,” Edwards said. He was involved in numerous civic and veterans organizations because he "believed in what the (groups) were doing," Edwards added.

Edmond Fordham was born in Fort McCoy

Fordham was born in Fort McCoy on Sept. 13, 1927. He attended Howard Academy, a segregated school in Ocala. He later went to Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, his daughter wrote in an email.

Fordham joined the U.S. Army/Army Air Corp in 1947, she wrote.

"My dad joined the Army when the military was still racially segregated. He had two years of college and was a surveyor. He told me he worked with the white soldiers during the day and at night had to walk back to the segregated barracks," Krista Fordham wrote.

Fordham explained in a 2015 Star-Banner article how his outlook on race relations was formed when he was a child in the 1930s in Fort McCoy.

“My best friend was Johnny Cook, son of a white neighbor who owned Cook’s Store, a general store in the community. We played, hunted and fished and were lifelong friends, and we never thought of black and white. It taught me the black and white communities were the same, just different colors,” he stated in the article.

Fordham returned to Paine College in 1950 after his military service and graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in history, according to Krista Fordham.

He met his future wife of 67 years, Tommie, at the college, and they both graduated in 1952 and married in 1953, Krista Fordham indicated. Tommie Fordham passed away in 2020.

Edmond Fordham was also proceeded in death by another daughter, Paula. He also had three grandchildren, according to an obituary from Rocker Cusack Mortuary (rockercusackmortuary.com).

The Fordhams moved to Ocala so Edmond Fordham could work as a teacher

Tommie and Edmond Fordham moved to Ocala and he was hired as a substitute history teacher at then Belleview-Santos School, Krista Fordham explained.

Edmond Fordham earned his master's and education specialist degrees and moved to Osceola Jr. High School as assistant principal.

Fordham served as the first principal of the combined Citra and Sparr elementary schools, located in Sparr.

Marion County Public Schools recently named a new early learning academy in Edmond Fordham’s honor.

A July 12 press release from Kevin Christian, director of public relations for MCPS, announced the August opening of Fordham Early Learning Academy, a school for 4- and 5-year-olds in voluntary pre-kindergarten and kindergarten in northwest Ocala.

The academy will focus on the development of "strong literacy skill, social-emotional learning concepts and music enrichment," with an enrollment of about 72 students, according to the press release.

Fordham served as site administrator for NOVA Southeastern University after retirement and mentored "aspiring school administrators enrolled in the Early Education and Exceptional Student Education programs," the press release stated.

Krista Fordham stated her father felt it was an honor to serve at Dr. N.H. Jones Elementary because the namesake of the school was “a mentor and directly responsible for (her father) joining Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.”

“Dad retired from Dunnellon Elementary with pride (and) he told me that the many students and teachers he helped over the years was indeed fulfilling,” Krista Fordham wrote.

She added the naming of the early learning academy after her father was the “greatest honor.”

Clyde Neasman, 76, a former student and longtime friend, referred to Fordham as a “surrogate father” and mentor when he attended then Belleview-Santos School.

During part of the 1960s, the school was segregated and went to 12th grade. He said Fordham was adamant about an equal number of black and white teachers being hired and had discussed the matter with him.

“(Fordham) was for equal opportunity,” Neasman said. Neasman said Fordham remained positive but if he found a problem he would take the person aside and point it out.

Remembering an 'everlasting friend'

Frank Washington, 82, was a student of Fordham’s who later became a fellow MCPS principal.

“We worked together in church and the community and we were everlasting friends who fished together,” he said.

Cynthia Wilson-Graham of Ocala has authored books on the African American experience here, including co-authoring "Remembering Paradise Park: Tourism and Segregation at Silver Springs" about the former racially segregated section of the attraction.

Wilson-Graham recalled having Fordham as her principal when she attended  Dr. N.H. Jones Upper Elementary School. She called him a "prolific" leader and he was "proud to call her one of his 'N.H Jones students."

"The oppressive laws during his early years did not stop (Mr. Fordham) from pursuing his goals," she wrote, in part, in a text.

"He was a beacon of light," she said.

Service Information

Viewing: 6-8 p.m. Aug. 5 at Mount Moriah MBC, 55 SW Third Ave., Ocala

Celebration of Life: 10 a.m. Aug. 6 at Mount Moriah MBC

The family has asked in place of flowers donations be made directly to Paine College, 1235 15th St., Augusta, GA. 30901 or to Paine College on behalf of Edmond Fordham Class of 1952 and mail to P.O. Box 3331 Ocala, FL 34478

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Edmond Fordham, longtime Marion County, Florida educator, dies at 94