Ford, Gerald R(udolph) (1913- ),
Early Life (((copied from Encarta encyclopedia, then excess deleted)))
Ford was born as Leslie Lynch King, Jr., in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1913 his mother, Dorothy, left her husband (they divorced in 1914) and took her son to live with her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At a church function, she met Gerald R. Ford, whom she married in 1916. Although he never formally adopted Dorothy's son, Ford gave her child his name-Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. That name became the future president's legal name in 1935.