{"id":112709,"date":"2026-03-18T17:03:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=112709"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:03:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:03:35","slug":"happy-birthday-genie-ford-celebrating-100-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/112709-happy-birthday-genie-ford-celebrating-100-years","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday Genie Ford! Celebrating 100 Years!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, March 7, 2026, Genie Ford, MSIA\u2019s \u201cMatriarch\u201d, celebrated her 100<sup>th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Family and friends gathered from Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, joining Genie and approximately 50 of her housemates at a lovely, assisted living center in Arkansas to honor and celebrate her.<\/p>\n<p>Genie\u2019s daughter Staci, who has cared for Genie for many years, organized a beautiful afternoon birthday party for her mother.<\/p>\n<p>The first part of the afternoon we celebrated in a private room \u2013 just friends and family spending time with and sharing with Genie.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-112711 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2-1024x769.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2-768x577.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2-600x451.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/StuCandaceGenieJonathon2.jpg 1088w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"> <em><em>Stu and Candace Semigran with Genie and her grandson, Jonathon.<\/em><\/em> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/GenieMaryAnnCandace.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-112712 size-medium aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/GenieMaryAnnCandace-217x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"217\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/GenieMaryAnnCandace-217x300.jpg 217w, https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/GenieMaryAnnCandace.jpg 530w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"> <em><em>Mary Ann Downs and Candace enjoying Genie sharing with friends.<\/em><\/em> <\/p>\n<p>Next, the party moved to the large dining room where about 50 of Genie\u2019s housemates joined in singing happy birthday and enjoying cake and ice cream.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Geniebirthdaycake.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-112713 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Geniebirthdaycake.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"295\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"> <em><em>Genie Ford at her 100th birthday celebration.<\/em><\/em> <\/p>\n<p>When one of Genie\u2019s caregivers placed the large sheet cake in front of her, and told her it was time to blow out her candles, Genie asked, \u201cI have to blow out 100 candles?\u201d To which the response was, \u201cNo, Genie, only three \u2013 100 \u2013 so after everyone sang happy birthday, the candles were lit and one-by-one Genie blew them out! She was then given a stack of about 50 birthday cards her housemates had made for her the previous day. One of her friends said to her, \u201cHappy 100<sup>th<\/sup> Genie! I\u2019m not sure I want to live to be 100. How do you do it?\u201d Genie replied, \u201cJust don\u2019t advertise it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the party, Mary Ann and I had a little private time to share with Genie in her room. Showing us photos of J-R and John she keeps on a little table next to her chair, she shared how happy she is, what a blessed life she lives, and how wonderful the staff are at her home. We shared happy birthday messages with her from John and Leigh and many of her MSIA friends.\u00a0 She asked me to give you all her love \u2013 and she said, \u201cAs I get older, my love grows bigger!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>God bless our dear friend Genie Ford.\u00a0 May her days be filled with Light, love, and the blessings of Spirit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>GENIE FORD \u2013 A LIFETIME OF SERVICE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>A Few Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>For those of you who may not know Genie, <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>MSIA\u2019s \u201cMatriarch\u201d, here are a few highlights <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>of her MSIA life from the time she met J-R in 1967 <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>to her 100<sup>th<\/sup> birthday celebration March 7, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>1967<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Met J-R in at art gallery in Whittier, CA when he was a guest speaker and realized he was her teacher<\/li>\n<li>Helped organize some of the first J-R seminars in Southern California<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1969<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Began years of volunteering including helping Pauli and Candy duplicate and mail Discourses in the early days<\/li>\n<li>Began holding weekly audio and then later video J-R\/MSIA seminars in her home<\/li>\n<li>Ordained as a Minister in MSIA<\/li>\n<li>Appointed by J-R to be Permanent Ministerial Board Secretary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1975<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Received Minister of the Year Award at MSIA Conference<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2016<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Received Lifetime Service Award at MSIA\u2019s 2016 Conference<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For decades<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Volunteered for many years and then served as an MSIA staff member for several decades until retiring from staff in 2020 at age 94.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Celebrated her 100<sup>th<\/sup> Birthday<\/li>\n<li>Continues to minister to herself, her family, her housemates and staff at the assisted living center where she lives, her friends, her MSIA family and the world \u2013 sending Light and loving daily.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, March 7, 2026, Genie Ford, MSIA\u2019s \u201cMatriarch\u201d, celebrated her 100th birthday. Family and friends gathered from Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, joining Genie and approximately 50 of her housemates at a lovely, assisted living center in Arkansas to honor and celebrate her. Genie\u2019s daughter Staci, who has cared for Genie for many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":112710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ministry-in-action"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}