The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund, on behalf of Estella Ford and Fat Possum Records, invites blues enthusiasts and the general public to the dedication ceremony for the headstone of James Lewis Carter “T-Model” Ford at Green Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery off of Highway 82 West outside of Greenville, the “Queen City” of the Mississippi Delta.
The graveside ceremony will be held at 4:00 on Saturday, May 31, 2014. The reception will be held afterwards at the Walnut Street Blues Bar at 128 South Walnut Street in Greenville. Local food and live music will be provided.
T-Model Ford died at home in Greenville of respiratory failure after a prolonged illness on Tuesday, July 16, 2013. Amos Harvey, formerly of Fat Possum Records, contributed to help cover the costs of the visitation at Redmond Funeral Home on North Broadway Street in Greenville. Friends and admirers of the blues musician held fundraisers at the Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville, the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in Marshall County, and other locations throughout the state.
The funeral service was held at the Washington County Convention Center on July 27. Musician and songwriter Robert Mortimer, Jr., who co-owned Mortimer Funeral Home and managed Green Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, donated the burial plot and vault for the local blues singer in the newly named “Legends” section of the burial ground. The grave marker was designed by Amos Harvey and engraved by Alan Orlicek.
