Ball, Dorothy J March 7, 1930 - September 29, 2014

Dorothy passed away September 29, 2014 in her daughters home and went to spend eternity with her heavenly father and her husband A.D. Ball. Dorothy was born in Vista, Missouri at her grandparent’s home to Hazel Reynolds Drake and Hazen Drake on March 7, 1930 where she spent the next 10 years growing up with her uncles and aunts, Eva Wheeler, Gladys Burrow, Bobby Reynolds, Naomi Lane, Thelma Dade, Vernon Reynolds, and Ab Reynolds. Her mother was unable to raise her in her early years because she and Hazen had divorced shortly after she was born, so her grandparents raised her with their own children. Times were very tough, but in the end she was very glad that she had been raised in the manner she had been. They had to fetch water from the well by buckets, rode in horse drawn wagons, worked hard all day in the fields, walking to town and to school, skating at the roller rink in Vista and having very little money to survive on. They ate a lot of squirrel, rabbit and fish. She only saw her mom about once a month which was very hard on a little girl. She very seldom saw her daddy. But once in a while she would miss him so much she would run away trying to find him. She grew up towards the end of the depression and during World War II. Everything was rationed and very scarce. They cooked on wood cook stoves and families even sat at the dinner table together at night visiting, something that we never do today. She moved to Kansas City when she was in the 6th grade to live with her mother and her mother’s new husband, Bob Blackman who was just like a father to her. She loved him very much. He was a chef and taught her a lot about cooking in the kitchen. Her father remarried and moved to California and had 3 more children, Twila Gay, Joanne, and J.R. She didn’t get to see her brother and sisters very often but felt very close to all of them. Twila passed away at the age of 5 due to leukemia. She graduated from the Osceola High School and married Stanley Garrison soon after she got out of school. She divorced about 3 years later. She married A.D. Ball in 1953 having 3 children and 1 step child, Nancy, from A.D.’s previous marriage. They moved to Collins from Kansas City in 1963 and built a dance hall which later became their home. They had many music parties and made a lot of homemade ice cream in that house, where a lot of good times and fond memories were made. Mom and Dad always enjoyed going square dancing with friends. They also enjoyed camping, fishing, and going out on their pontoon. She had worked for Montgomery Wards as a young woman and later was a waitress in Collins, Missouri. Dorothy really had a hard life and never had much money, but she was really close to her family and they really loved each other. Dorothy became ill with cancer in 2003, unable to live alone or take care of herself and A.D. She spent the last 12 years living with her daughter Joetta and son-in-law Gene. She will be terrible missed by her loving family. Dorothy is survived by her sons Mike Ball and companion Sharon Clark of Bolivar, Missouri, Steve Ball of Osceola, Missouri; daughter, Joetta Culbertson and husband Gene of Springfield, Missouri; brother J.R. Drake of California; 5 grandchildren; several great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild and many friends.