Blanche Crawford Ball 1929 - 2009

STERLING — Blanche Crawford Ball, 80, passed away Nov. 24 at Sterling. She was born Feb. 24, 1929, at Syracuse, N.Y., to Frank Nickell and Kathryn Elizabeth Wilson Crawford. She was a Middleton, Ohio, high school graduate and attended Sterling College, Fort Hays State and Antelope Valley College at Lancaster, Calif. She had lived in Lancaster for 33 years before returning to Kansas to be closer to her children.

Her love of music began at the age of five when her parents let her start lessons. She played both piano and organ. At age 9 she played for her first Sunday service when the regular pianist could not get to the church due to a snowstorm. She continued playing for various churches throughout the rest of her life. She gave private lessons at age 14 for 50 cents in College Corner, Ohio, where her father was pastor of U.P. Church. She was one of the organists at Park Place Christian Church.

On Nov. 6, 1947, she married Earl Ross Ball at Sterling. He died on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2006. A loving mother of five children and their spouses, Ron and Lynette Ball, Menlo, Bob Ball, Inman, Rick and Lois Ball, Great Bend, Rex and Debi Ball, Hays, and Shari and Perry McCabe, Hutchinson; also survived by one brother, Robert Crawford, Fountain Hills, Ariz.; two sisters, Florence Hill, Monroe, Ohio, and Christine Stoner, Goosecreek, S.C.; 11 grandchildren, Eric and Daphne McCabe, Matt and Trissa McCabe, David Ball, Thomas Ross Ball, Jason Ross Ball, Kristen Lynn Ball, Kayla Marie and Kyle Kinderknecht, Melissa Elizabeth and Lee Counsell, Jacque, Jamie and Jenna Ball, six great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter. She was preceded in death by a brother, James Crawford.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Park Place Christian Church, 2600 N. Adams, Hutchinson. Inurnment will be at Sterling Cemetery. Friends may sign her book from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Sterling College Music Departnent. Visit www.elliottmortuary.com to leave her family a personal condolence. Funeral arrangements provided by
Elliott Mortuary*
1219 North Main
Hutchinson, KS 67501
620-663-3327
Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, Nov. 26, 2009