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| Delores "Dee" Ball May 28, 1928 - March 15, 2023 |
Delores "Dee" Ball, 94, of Schertz, Texas, passed away March 15, 2023.
She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 28, 1928, to Jerry & Maud (Brown) Broughton.
She was married to Dannie E. Ball for 64 years until his death.
Dear Family and Friends,
My mom is gone. She who gave me life and has been with me for all of my life has left this earth. Today, the Ides of March 2023. At about 4:30 pm. At her memory care facility in Schertz, Texas. With my beloved sister and other friends and family by her side.
A few years after Dad died in 2010, Mom had a dream where Dad met her at "the Pearly Gates" and asked her, "What took you so long?" She told that story often until dementia robbed her of that memory. But today she was freed to see it come true.
Mom was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 28 May 1928 to Jerry Broughton and his wife Maud (Brown) Broughton. Maud died of tuberculosis less than three months later (9 Aug 1928), leaving Grandpa Jerry Broughton with Mom, her three surviving siblings (Roberta, Carl, and Edward), and the memory of his late wife Maud and their first child Garvel Oran Broughton who had died the previous year (2 July 1927).
In 1928, it may have seemed to Grandpa that God had forgotten him, but He had not. God knew that there was another love awaiting Grandpa, and her name was Margaret Okla Perry, whose unusual middle name came from her family's brief sojourn in the Oklahoma Territory before returning to Kentucky.
Jerry Broughton married Margaret Perry on 11 January 1930 in Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky - just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
Grandma Margaret Broughton was the linchpin of the family. She took the four children who came with Grandpa and meshed them with the three children they had together (Eugene, Wilma, and Geraldine) into such a close family that I did not know until I was an adult that the seven siblings had two mothers.
The Broughton family attended what was then Lockland Baptist Church. It was there that Uncle Ed enlisted his high school buddy Dannie Ball to help him carry his sister Delores up the stairs to their Sunday School classroom after she had injured her leg. Dad later told me that as he carried her up the stairs, he looked into her eyes and told himself, "that's the girl I'm going to marry."
And they did. On the 7th of September in 1945. They eloped across the River to Newport (Kentucky) where the two high school aged "kids" told the county clerk's office they were each 21. They were 18.
Dad had joined the Army at the beginning of the year. He had wanted to do so during WWII but he was too young at 17 and his mother Della (Estep) Ball was not about to give her permission for her only child to go to war. And so he waited until the day after he turned 18 in January, 1928 and did so. But by then the fighting was over. Grandma Ball had accomplished her goal.
Dannie and Dee spent two decades in the Air Force. Dad's service took him to places the two of them probably didn't imagine while growing up in the greater Cincinnati area - Kansas, Illinois, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia, and in what was no doubt the highlight of their military time - three and half years near Seville, Spain.
They returned from Spain to the San Antonio area where daughter Janet put down stakes and has rooted herself since the summer of 1964.
Dad retired from active duty in 1967, but he and Mom continued to move. Just not far. And never again out of the state of Texas. Waco. Dallas. Finally, back to San Antonio in 2000.
Faith was central to the life and marriage of Dannie and Dee. Wherever they moved, upon arriving at a new location they would find a Baptist church as a first priority. Usually, it was the smallest, neediest church in the community. A place where they felt needed. A place they could contribute. From those churches, Dan and Dee radiated a love which generated an ever-growing extended family. People were attracted to them. Maybe for counsel. Maybe for "parental guidance". Occasionally for a financial helping hand. Often for shared meals. All in all, they were a two-person "one flesh" ministry of love to those around them.
Mom and Dad are gone from here but together again. They leave us all with memories, some shared and some absolutely unique. Feel free to share those stories with my sister Jan and me and with anybody else you think might like to know them.
May God continue to bless my family and friends!
Love to you all,
Dad/Grandpa/Cousin/Uncle/ Jerry
A visitation for Delores was held Wednesday, March 22, 2023, followed by the funeral service at First Baptist Church, 1401 Pat Booker Rd, Universal City, TX 78148. A committal service was held Thursday, March 23, 2023 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, 1520 Harry Wurzbach Rd, San Antonio, TX 78209.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.colonialuniversal.com for the Ball family.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution to First Baptist Church of Universal City, 1401 Pat Booker Rd, Universal City, TX 78148, or to a charity of your choice.
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| Jerry and his sister Janet sitting in the new niche with the Ro-Hawk Mosaic |
