DUANE
Duane's take
The State of Texas put this one down in stone back in 1963, and I'm just here to make sure you hear it right. Now, if you were to sit down and try to invent a Texan — really cook one up from scratch — you might land somewhere in the neighborhood of John Salmon Ford. But you probably wouldn't go quite as far as the real thing.
He was born on May 26, 1815, a native of South Carolina. By the time he was done, he'd be buried in Texas, with a life between those two points that would wear out three ordinary men before lunch. He came up as a doctor.
Then an editor. He served as a Congressman for the Republic of Texas — the Republic, mind you, before statehood was even in the picture. He'd go on to serve as a state Senator not once but twice.
He rode as adjutant to Jack Hays during the war with Mexico. He captained the Rangers on the border and in Indian campaigns, and the word people kept reaching for when they talked about him was fearless. He rose to the rank of Confederate colonel.
He was Mayor of Austin. He was Mayor of Brownsville. He sat in the Constitutional Convention of 1875.
He served as superintendent of the State Deaf and Dumb School. And when the Texas State Historical Association was formed, John Salmon Ford was a charter member. Somewhere along the way, people started calling him Rip.
The marker doesn't explain it — just plants those quotation marks around the name like a knowing wink and moves on. Some things you just accept. As warmaker and as peacekeeper, the marker says, he was steadfast and true.
And his motto — the one he carried through all of it, the ranging and the fighting and the governing and the building — was three words: Ready, ay, ready. He died on November 3, 1897. And here, the marker tells us plainly, he rests in peace.
Ready, ay, ready. Right up until he wasn't.
What the marker says
Here Rests in Peace--John Salmon ("Rip") Ford May 26, 1815- November 3, 1897. Native South Carolinan, Pioneer doctor and editor, Republic of Texas Congressman, twice state Senator, Jack Hay's adjutant in war with Mexico, fearless Ranger Captain in border and Indian campaigns, Confederate colonel, Mayor of Austin and Brownsville, member Constitutional Convention of 1875, superintendent State Deaf and Dumb School, charter member of Texas State Historical Association. As warmaker and as peacekeeper, he was steadfast and true to his motto: "Ready, ay, ready!" Erected by the State of Texas, 1963.