in Europe were brought to a conclusion when he visited Greenwich Observatory and stood, on May 31, "right below the transit slit, with one foot at 23h 59m 59.999s and the other one at 00h 00m 00.001s." High school and college Upon returning from Europe, and as he finished high school, Ford found himself working for the aging Professor Edwin B. Frost at Yerkes Observatory, partially on the strength of an article he'd written for Popular Astronomy magazine. While at Yerkes he managed to do some variable star observing with some of the smaller telescopes, trace copies of the AAVSO charts that were in the Yerkes files, and learn about developing astronomical plates. College saw Ford at the University of Michigan. Here he nearly decided to major in English and waited until his sophomore year to take his first astronomy course. In August and September 1932 Ford traveled to Maine to view the total solar eclipse on August 31. In the spring of 1933 Ford resolved to "return to science" with regard to his studies. A year later he gained Professor Heber D. Curtis, famous for his part in the Shapley-Curtis Debate on the nature of the galaxy, as his advisor. Post-college He served in the US Navy in World War II. Later in life, he played violin with the Stamford Symphony Orchestra of Stamford, Connecticut. He became a member of the Ithaca College Board of Trustees in 1966 and was awarded honorary status in 1988. The college has named its observatory in his honor. He was famous in amateur astronomical circles for his quote: "Never sleep more than 90 feet from your telescope." In 1987 he won the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The headquarters of the AAVSO in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is named the Clinton B. Ford Astronomical Data and Research Center. When he died, aged 79, he bequeathed a substantial endowment to the AAVSO, which continues to serve as its primary source of operating income. Ford Observatories The AAVSO previously owned the Ford Observatory named in his honor in southern California, near Wrightwood (Observatory Code 674); it was donated to the Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) in 2012. Ithaca College in New York owns another observatory of the same name, Ford Observatory, named in his honor in 1998 (Observatory Code 845); it was previously known as Ithaca College Observatory. Amateur music Ford was