Jan. 12, 1932 – Feb. 4, 2025
K. Hilary (Cocks) Ford passed away peacefully at age 93 on Feb. 4, 2025, in Harbor Springs, Michigan.
Hilary was born on Jan. 12, 1932, in Mexico City, Mexico to S.H. Euan Cocks and Katherine I. (Phillips) Cocks. She grew up in Mexico and went to high school in Toronto, Canada. She finished her nursing training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London shortly before meeting a dashing young captain in the British Army stationed in Detmold, Germany. After seven months of courtship-via-letter, Hilary and Martin W. Ford were married in Bantry, Ireland in August 1956, the beginning of a 68-year union treasured by both.
Hilary and Martin and their young family landed in Fontana, Wisconsin in 1965, where they resided for 10 years before building a home in rural Walworth township. They bought an unproductive pasture and embarked on a lifelong journey of restoring the native prairie and hardwoods. Hilary loved birds and birding; she fledged many broods of bluebirds from nest boxes she monitored. Over the years, Hilary volunteered as a Girl Scout leader, a Picture Lady in Walworth County schools, in master gardener programs, and with the race committee at Lake Geneva Yacht Club.
When her children had mostly fledged, Hilary returned to her nursing practice. She received her BSN from Alverno College in 1990 and enjoyed a later-in-life career with Golden Years Nursing Home in Walworth, and home health nursing in Walworth County.
After Martin and Hilary both retired, they enjoyed traveling in their motor home, always making birds the focus of their trips around the U.S. On one of those adventures, they fell in love with Door County and made the decision to relocate. Hilary treasured their years there, especially the dear friends they made at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and in the Ellison Bay community.
Hilary is survived by her beloved husband Martin of Harbor Springs; daughter Deborah of Ellison Bay; son Christopher (Alison Hill) of Harbor Spring; and son Richard (Julie) of Walworth, Wisconsin. She adored her grandchildren William, Nicholas, Jasmine, and Vivian. (As Viv says: “She was everything a grandmother should have been.”) She was preceded in death by her son Geoffrey (1964-1968).
Hilary’s family is very grateful for the compassionate care provided by the staff of Pineview Cottage in Harbor Springs, and Hospice of Michigan.
No services are planned. If you would like to remember Hilary, her family suggests memorial contributions to Door County Land Trust, P.O. Box 65, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 or Lakeland Audubon Society, P.O. Box 473, Elkhorn, WI 53121. (Or simply get to know an unfamiliar bird.)
Services are in the care of Stone Funeral Home.
