Life with a "Perfect" Father

Since President Nixon nominated Gerald R. Ford to be Vice President, the Ford family has made two important decisions. One was not to move out of the four-bedroom house in Alexandria, Va., that they built 18 years ago and is now worth about $65,000. The other was to keep an unbroken 16-year family tradition of getting together at their condominium in Vail, Colo., for two weeks of skiing over Christmas. "Ours has been a very close family life," explains Betty Ford, "but that's about the only time all of us can get together these days."

During Ford's 25 years in politics, much of the burden of raising that family --Michael, 23, John, 21, Steven, 17, and Susan, 16--has fallen on Betty. Ford averaged 200 out-of-town speeches a year and often had to work late at the Capitol. Fortunately for the family, his wife prefers her children and community activities to politicking. She has served as a Cub Scout den mother, a Sunday school teacher and head of the local cancer fund drive. One year she had children in three different schools and made a point of attending meetings of all three Parent-Teacher associations.

Slim (size 10) and brunette, the soft-spoken Mrs. Ford, 55, was raised in Grand Rapids. Before her marriage in 1948, she was a Powers model in New York City and a dancer with the Martha Graham troupe. Her favorite hobby is growing flowers and vegetables. As the nation's Second Lady, she hopes "to do something for the arts."

The Ford children's lives demonstrate that they are individualists.

Reared in his family's Episcopal faith, Michael became deeply interested in theology as an undergraduate at Wake Forest College, a Baptist school in North Carolina. Now he is a first-year student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., though he does not plan to become a minister.

After class, he works with "Young Life," an evangelical organization for teenagers.

Jack, the middle brother, is the only Ford child who has shown any political bent. In 1972, he skipped a semester at Utah State University, where he is now a junior, to work on college campuses for Nixon's reelection. But his principal interest is forestry, and he hopes to go either to graduate school in watershed management or to law school, where he would specialize in environmental problems. Last summer, he spent six weeks with the Forest Service, fighting forest fires in Idaho and California. Steve, a senior at a public high school in Alexandria, recently bought a motorcycle out of the money he earned as an elevator operator in the Senate last summer. He jogs, shoots baskets at a nearby school, and lifts weights in his family's paneled recreation room.

Susan, a boarding student at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md., has followed in her mother's jetes. She has studied modern dance since the age of eight, and is now taking ballet lessons as well.

She tends 25 plants in her room, loves to do needle point, and dotes on her Siamese cat, Chan. All four children feel unusually close to their father. Explains Jack: "He never tried to mold us or direct us. He allowed us room to explore for ourselves, to find ourselves." Exclaims Susan: "He's the perfect father."

At night, Ford usually brings work home and goes through it while glancing up at TV (favorite programs: Cannon, McMillan and Wife). Only rarely do the Fords entertain at home or go out to eat. When they do, they usually eat seafood at Washington's Jockey Club or Sea Catch Restaurant. A dedicated weight watcher, Ford swims in his heated pool twice daily from March to November. Frequently he skips lunch, or has a dish of cottage cheese with ketchup in his office. He weighs 201 Ibs., just four more than during his football days at the University of Michigan, but admits that his weight has "shifted" a bit.

Since his nomination, the family lifestyle has scarcely changed. The Fords now have five telephones, including a direct line to the White House, and are remodeling the garage to accommodate the Vice President's Secret Service guards. At Utah State, John shaved his beard, partly because of letters from people who thought a Vice President's son should not have one.

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