Willie Mae Ford Smith

Willie Mae Ford (1904 – 1994), also known as Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, was an American gospel singer. Born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee as a child. She was raised in the Baptist church and began singing with her sisters, Mary, Geneva, Lucille, and Emma, in a family group known as "The Ford Sisters" after the family moved to St. Louis. The group, and Willie Mae in particular, achieved wider fame after an appearance at the 1922 National Baptist Convention.