The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-28
FORD RECIPIENT OF UNUSUAL TRIBUTE AT ROTARY CLUB LUNCH Presented With Silver Sher- bet Set By Members
 of the Club
 DIR. EDMONDS MAKES
 PRINCIPAL SPEECH Mir. Ford Also Given Letter Signed By Every Member Present Ex- pressing Regret At His De-
 parture-Telling Response

Rotarians yesterday paid tribute to a Rotarian. A H. Ford-the man-was
 given testimonial of the place he has
 won in the hearts of his friends in Bir-
 mingf an. A bigger tribute no man in Birmingham ever received
 I'm going to write for Mir Ford an epitanh and you may Dc surprised that I call 1t an epitaph," said Dr. H. M Ed
 mcnds. one of the speakers. "Epitaphs are only for the dead. you say. but I think one is pa-ticularly fitting now f,r although MT. Ford is net dead, he's ieav- ing Birmingham
 MT. Ford will leave Birmingham June after having been president of the Bir-
 mineham Railway, Light and Power company for seven years, and will make
 his home in Portland, Me. where he has accepted the vice presidency of a power and light company.
 Dr. EdmOnds Makes Principal Speech The speech of the occasion was the presentation add 7ess delivered by pr. Edinonds. pastor Of the South Highland Presbyterian church and chaplain of the Rotary club. It was remarkable display Ol Nit dfiO nu1nOT. IF. fQTnOnQS kept the crowd in an uproar
 The occasion was a suncheon given by
 the Birmingham Rotary club at it's reg ! ular meeting place in the Turnvereir | yesterday at 1 o'clock in MT. Ford 2 | honor. There were present about 1U0 2o- | ta,'ians and soma 15 Or 20 guests. At .he close of the speaking Mir. Ford was pre- | sented with a beautiful silver sherbet set | by the club and he was given letter | signed by every member of the clui present, expressing the good will felt to-
 ward him and the regret at his leaving. President John k. Shelby presided | Mr. Shelby first introduced Pascnal | Shook, president of the Chamber of Gem -lefce, who spoke of the early days of
 the local street car company, saying
 that in the sos his father bought the en- | tire corporation for s50o0 He paid high
 compliment to MT. Ford as a business ! man. q citizen and civic worker, anG as a personal and intimate friend and neigh | bor.
 | Oscar Turner said that the main thing about MT. Ford that had always appealed | to him was that he was big man, but not too big to mingle with the littis fel- lows and take part in all the little things 1 that went to make for better town and | better people He stressed MT. Ford 2 good nature, stating that one time at n church gathering when they met to give 1 MT. Edmonds an automobile the affair vas proceeding with the cayety of a fli-
 neral until MT Ford got up and saved the day. The crowd jeered MT. Turner s | allusion to being at church. but Dr. Ed | nonds Himself later verified the state- ment
 | Frank P. Glass said few words re- | garding MT. Ford s ability and apparently | constant desire to make friends. He | said that there was no doubt MT. Ford
 had succeeded nobly.
 | John Sibley then read to MT. Ford the
 letter of good will and friendship signed by all present and presented it to him | It is given below. pr. Edmcnds was then
 called upcn.
 All Epitaphs Not True
 Speaking of epitaphs,'' he continued,
 q want to say that this one I am going tc give MT. Ford IS a true one. It is re- gretable but true that all of them are
 not As illustrative of one that was, recall an epitaph recorded on tomb
 stone in a certain place In Virginia Ii was inscribed: Samantha Maria Smith Lord, she was thin After the burst
 of applause died down Dr. Edmonds said
 ''Either the stone was to narrow or some
 mischievous boy had cut off the F. MT. Ford, however, is a real Ford, ano | I don't mind advertising him little bit | He holds many a record as a high class | automobile. He climbs the mountain. of difficulty, blows through the sand oi depression and jumps across the streams ! of criticism. He has run 55 years on jus 1 one gallon of gasoline, and l can prov'
 that remarkable statement:
 "He is an operator of large industries | I don't suppose anyone ever waited or | one of his cars-longer than two hours They either ordered taxicab or walked He was a booster for Birmingham. remember well he was one of the commit l tee which came to Montgomery to tall
 to Inc about coming here and was one o the men who met me at the train whei came up to look the town over. AS WI came out of the station and got into MT
 Bowie's car he remarked: Just get in doctor. this is the church automobile. l We rode over the city for miles ant miles. I don't remember where all W, went, but I do remember that we passed MT. Dick Burnetts house three times
 all from different directions, and eacl
 time MT. Ford pointed 1t out and said There lives another of our directors During that tour we passed the nev Tutwiler hotel even five times, and ever!
 time from different direction. Mark said five times. And each time he re
 marked, there's one of our new hotels.
 Friendship Necessary
 Now, there are many things in lif which have always appeared to me un