Dorothy Ayer Gardner Ford

Dorothy Ayer Gardner King Ford (née Gardner) was born on February 27, 1892, in Harvard, Illinois. She was the daughter of Levi Addison Gardner, a businessman and former mayor, and Adele Augusta Gardner (née Ayer). She attended Wellesley College during her youth.

Dorothy Gardner married her first husband, Leslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader from Omaha, Nebraska, on September 7, 1912. The marriage took place while she was a student; Leslie King Sr. was the brother of her college roommate. The couple relocated to Omaha and initially resided with Leslie King's parents, Charles Henry King, a banker and businessman, and Martha Alicia Porter, both of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Shortly after their marriage, Dorothy discovered troubling aspects of her husband's behavior, including abuse, lying, and alcoholism.

Dorothy became pregnant with her son, Leslie Lynch King Jr., and gave birth to him on July 14, 1913. A few days following the birth, Leslie King Sr. threatened her and their infant with a butcher knife, prompting police intervention. Seventeen days after her son's birth, Dorothy left her husband to escape the abusive environment. She moved to her sister Tannisse's residence in Oak Park, Illinois, then to her parents' home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Subsequently, she filed for divorce, which was granted on December 19, 1913, by an Omaha court on the grounds of extreme cruelty. Leslie King Sr. refused to pay child support, but his father, Charles Henry King, provided support until his death in 1930.

In 1917, Dorothy Gardner married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a businessman based in Grand Rapids. Their marriage took place on February 1, 1917. They named their first son Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr., although he was not formally adopted by his stepfather. In 1935, Gerald Ford Jr. legally changed his name to Gerald R. Ford, adopting a more conventional spelling of his middle name. Ford stated that Dorothy emphasized the importance of controlling temper, a trait he attributed in part to his biological father.

Dorothy and Gerald Ford Jr. had three additional sons: Thomas Gardner Ford (born July 15, 1918, died August 28, 1995); Richard Addison Ford (born June 3, 1924, died March 20, 2015); and James Francis Ford (born August 11, 1927, died January 23, 2001).

Dorothy Ayer Gardner King Ford died on September 17, 1967, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is buried alongside her second husband at Woodlawn Cemetery in Grand Rapids.