Audrey Denise Ford better known as Audi, departed this life on August 22, 2023. She was born in Washington, DC on May 26, 1961 to the late Johnny Lester and Annie Bell Ford. Audrey was the youngest of three children born of this union.

Audrey attended public schools in Washington, DC and graduated with honors from McKinley Technical High School in 1979. During high school, she started working at System Planning Corporation in Arlington Virginia and continued there full time after graduation. Her next move started a decades-long career at M and T Electric in Landover, Md which is where she met her future boss Edward Lewis, Sr. who was just starting his company City Security Consultants, Inc. Audrey became a critical member of the team as the Office Manager where she basically kept everyone in the office in line. She was more than an employee and became a part of the Lewis clan. Audrey was totally dedicated to her career (lasting over a span of 27 years), and her family will always appreciate the loving care that City Security Consultants displayed for her.
Audrey was one of the most beautiful spirits you could ever hope to meet. When you met her, you knew you would have a good time! She loved to spend time with family and friends and they loved spending time with her!

Audrey had a wonderful childhood filled with friends that she cherished to this day. Although she loved everyone, she held a special place in her heart and soul for her sister, Rhonda. It was rare that you would see one without the other and most people thought they were actually twins. Together, they were a force, as they tortured their brother Zack, with lots of help from their sister-cousin Julie. Luckily, Zack married Bonnie and she also assisted the girls with the management of their brother over the years. Audrey and Rhonda’s love and commitment to each other was unmatched, and that love would extend to Rhonda’s husband Carlton and their daughter, Andria. In fact, shortly before their mother, Annie’s passing, she quite frankly told Carlton that when he married Rhonda, he would be marrying Audrey as well. Carlton considered himself one lucky man. When Andria was born, Audi was always more than an Aunt, she was a second Mom. They were incredibly close and Audi was who Andria ran to when she had a problem with her parents. She was always there for her “sweetpea”.

Audrey had a close circle of lifetime friends who were part of our lives since childhood and, over the years, she became a honorary member of their families. When Rhonda went to college, Wayne Morris and Rodford Johnson filled the gap and they had lots of fun times in the neighborhood. Both remained the closest of friends throughout her life. When Rhonda and Audrey moved to their first place, they shared years of togetherness with Carlton and Kevin King. Audrey was also blessed with many “sisters of the heart” such as Julie, who was a sister from the day she was born, Talatha (Mitt) Dennis who Rhonda and Audrey would spend weeks during the summer in Culpepper, Va, Deborah White, (a friend since kindergarten and have remained besties for life), Denise Greene, who Audrey met in 7th grade at Taft Jr. High School in Washington DC, Yolanda Wesley who she met at her first job in high school, and Venitta McKnight who became her travel buddy and close friend, sharing Audrey’s home with her for the last year. The depth of the love between us transferred to their children, as she was blessed to become godmother to Michael Coleman, Erick McNair, Wesley Harper and Danielle White. Of course John McRae (son of Julie and John McRae Sr.) became her baby too! Basically, if someone she loved had a baby, they became one of her babies as can be seen by the photo gallery of baby pictures all over her house.

Audrey loved to travel, hung onto hope for the Commanders, collected things that made her happy and had enough clothes and shoes to open her own department store.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Zachary Ford who we lost just last year. She leaves to cherish and honor her memory her devoted sister Rhonda Ford Chatmon and brother-in-(law)heart, Carlton Chatmon, Her precious “sweetpea”, niece Andria Chatmon, aunts Nellie Bannister and Rebecca Mills, sister-cousin Julie McRae (Johnny) and son John McRae, sister-in-law Charlene Avery Ford (Zack) and a host of cousins and friends.