Virginia B. Ball, the adventurous Texan who came to Muncie as the wife of this city's leading industrialist, then forged her own identity as a philanthropist, community leader and environmentalist, died Monday, December 1, 2003, after a massive stroke suffered last week (Nov. 26). She was 84. "Obviously, she was one of the great women of Muncie and was a role model for all of us," said Beverley Pitts, provost and vice-president for academic affairs for Ball State University. That school was founded and nurtured by the family of Ball's late husband, Edmund F. Ball, who was president and chairman of Ball Corp. and died in 2000 at age 95.
Ball was with friends in her cottage on Little Cayman Island in the Caribbean last Wednesday when she was stricken, said her brother-in-law, John Fisher. On Thanksgiving Day, she was transported to Baptist Hospital in Miami, in what he termed "very grave" condition. Less than two weeks ago, she oversaw the unveiling of plans to erect a steel, glass and limestone sculpture called Catalyst, a memorial to her late husband, at the entrance to the Minnetrista Cultural Center. "This is a milestone. It's really a marvelous piece," she said. Her appearance at the event made a particularly strong impression on Fisher, the husband of Edmund Ball's surviving sister, Janice Ball Fisher, and the man who succeeded Ball as corporation president in 1970. "I think Virginia handled herself beautifully there," he recalled Monday, discussing her enthusiasm for the large work of sculpture. "She was very proud of it, and rightfully so." Her arts activities also included work for the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and serving as a trustee for the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts.
The month leading to her visit to the Caribbean had been a happy one for Ball, Fisher added, noting it included a ranching visit with friends in Arizona and the wedding of a grandchild in Mexico. "I think Virginia had a month of very pleasurable events in her life," Fisher said. Monday, Douglas Bakken, executive director of the Ball Brothers Foundation, was mulling the week's events. "She left on vacation in good spirits, full of energy and enthusiasm," he said. "We're still trying to absorb what it means." He was asked to briefly characterize her life and interests. "I guess her love affair was with the humanities," he said, noting she conscientiously backed her concerns with her actions and her pocketbook. "That says it all."
Ball was a founder of the Indiana Humanities Council, Bakken noted, and also the first female board member of the National Wildlife Federation, for which she remained a member of the president's council. It was Ball's strong support for BSU, both in company with her husband and on her own, that left the greatest impression with Pitts. She cited Ball's creation of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, a place where students are immersed in a semester of creative studies, then share the results with the community. "Her resources made it happen," Pitts said. "It's one of the richest learning experiences we've had for students on this campus, and Virginia was the reason."
Asked his overriding impression of his late sister-in-law, Fisher offered a personal reflection. "First of all, she was quite a lady," he said, "and obviously had a multitude of interests and enthusiasm for life. Being a couple Southerners, we were very close. I think Virginia and I had an understanding about a lot of things." Ranching, flying, scuba diving and traveling were among her interests, he noted, adding that the impeccably dressed industrialist's wife wasn't averse to getting dirty on hunting and fishing trips. "She was a great outdoors woman and a great sportsman," Fisher recalled. "It was always fun to be with her." Edmund and Virginia's respective strengths complemented each other, he added, noting her innate enthusiasm and people skills meshed well with his occasional reticence and shyness. "I would say they were quite supportive of each other," Fisher said. "She made a wonderful companion."
Born in Jacksonville, Texas, on Jan. 1, 1919, she graduated from Baylor University, for which she remained a generous benefactor in 1940. Edmund was widowed in 1949 when his first wife, Isabel, died tragically in an explosion on the couple's small boat. The Balls married June 28, 1952. She became the stepmother of his children Frank E. Ball, Marilyn Heaton and Fred C. Ball. Together, they had two children, Robert B. Ball and Nancy B. Keilty.
Her current board memberships were extensive and included the Ball State University Foundation and Ball Brothers Foundation, serving as a director for both, and other positions with Indiana Public Radio, the Muncie Children's Museum and the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. Twice named a Sagamore of the Wabash, she was also awarded honorary doctorates by Wabash College, Keuka College, Baylor University and BSU and won a VIVA (Very Important Volunteer Award) lifetime achievement award with her husband in 1993. Their lives together were recently covered in a comprehensive new book, Beneficience: Stories about the Ball Families of Muncie, written by Earl L. Conn, retired dean of the Ball State College of Communication, Information and Media. "One thought of them as inseparable, of course," Conn said. Researching the book gave Conn a rather unique perspective on a woman whom, he admitted, he did not know well. "She was an excellent interviewee and had great lines that a writer could use, and much like her husband, she never held anything back that I could tell, he said. "She was very up front, very honest." Her physical presence was striking he added. "The one thing I heard people say, with which I'd agree, is what a beautiful woman she was," he said. But what was his own overriding assessment of Ball? "She enjoyed life and lived it to its fullest," he said with little hesitation. "You can't do much better than that."
The Star Press, Tuesday, December 2, 2003.
Services for Virginia B. Ball will be in First Presbyterian Church 1:30 p.m. Saturday with Rev. Ronald Naylor, pastor, officiating. Entombment will be private and there will be no calling hours. Surviving are five children, Frank E. Ball (wife: Rosemary), Marilyn Ball Heaton (husband: Robert), Frederick C. Ball (wife: Lucretia), Robert B. Ball, and Nancy Ball Keilty (husband: Tim); 19 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by two brothers, William Alford Beall and John A. Beall, and a sister, Mary Louise Beall Golightly Bell. Memorials may be directed to the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry c/o Ball State University Foundation; the Minnetrista Cultural Foundation, 1200 N. Minnetrista Parkway, Muncie, IN 47304, or the Muncie Center for the Arts, 520 E. Main St., Muncie, IN. The Meeks Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
The Star Press, Thursday, December 4, 2003.
Note: Virginia married Edmund F. Ball, June 28, 1952.
Ball was with friends in her cottage on Little Cayman Island in the Caribbean last Wednesday when she was stricken, said her brother-in-law, John Fisher. On Thanksgiving Day, she was transported to Baptist Hospital in Miami, in what he termed "very grave" condition. Less than two weeks ago, she oversaw the unveiling of plans to erect a steel, glass and limestone sculpture called Catalyst, a memorial to her late husband, at the entrance to the Minnetrista Cultural Center. "This is a milestone. It's really a marvelous piece," she said. Her appearance at the event made a particularly strong impression on Fisher, the husband of Edmund Ball's surviving sister, Janice Ball Fisher, and the man who succeeded Ball as corporation president in 1970. "I think Virginia handled herself beautifully there," he recalled Monday, discussing her enthusiasm for the large work of sculpture. "She was very proud of it, and rightfully so." Her arts activities also included work for the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and serving as a trustee for the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts.
The month leading to her visit to the Caribbean had been a happy one for Ball, Fisher added, noting it included a ranching visit with friends in Arizona and the wedding of a grandchild in Mexico. "I think Virginia had a month of very pleasurable events in her life," Fisher said. Monday, Douglas Bakken, executive director of the Ball Brothers Foundation, was mulling the week's events. "She left on vacation in good spirits, full of energy and enthusiasm," he said. "We're still trying to absorb what it means." He was asked to briefly characterize her life and interests. "I guess her love affair was with the humanities," he said, noting she conscientiously backed her concerns with her actions and her pocketbook. "That says it all."
Ball was a founder of the Indiana Humanities Council, Bakken noted, and also the first female board member of the National Wildlife Federation, for which she remained a member of the president's council. It was Ball's strong support for BSU, both in company with her husband and on her own, that left the greatest impression with Pitts. She cited Ball's creation of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, a place where students are immersed in a semester of creative studies, then share the results with the community. "Her resources made it happen," Pitts said. "It's one of the richest learning experiences we've had for students on this campus, and Virginia was the reason."
Asked his overriding impression of his late sister-in-law, Fisher offered a personal reflection. "First of all, she was quite a lady," he said, "and obviously had a multitude of interests and enthusiasm for life. Being a couple Southerners, we were very close. I think Virginia and I had an understanding about a lot of things." Ranching, flying, scuba diving and traveling were among her interests, he noted, adding that the impeccably dressed industrialist's wife wasn't averse to getting dirty on hunting and fishing trips. "She was a great outdoors woman and a great sportsman," Fisher recalled. "It was always fun to be with her." Edmund and Virginia's respective strengths complemented each other, he added, noting her innate enthusiasm and people skills meshed well with his occasional reticence and shyness. "I would say they were quite supportive of each other," Fisher said. "She made a wonderful companion."
Born in Jacksonville, Texas, on Jan. 1, 1919, she graduated from Baylor University, for which she remained a generous benefactor in 1940. Edmund was widowed in 1949 when his first wife, Isabel, died tragically in an explosion on the couple's small boat. The Balls married June 28, 1952. She became the stepmother of his children Frank E. Ball, Marilyn Heaton and Fred C. Ball. Together, they had two children, Robert B. Ball and Nancy B. Keilty.
Her current board memberships were extensive and included the Ball State University Foundation and Ball Brothers Foundation, serving as a director for both, and other positions with Indiana Public Radio, the Muncie Children's Museum and the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. Twice named a Sagamore of the Wabash, she was also awarded honorary doctorates by Wabash College, Keuka College, Baylor University and BSU and won a VIVA (Very Important Volunteer Award) lifetime achievement award with her husband in 1993. Their lives together were recently covered in a comprehensive new book, Beneficience: Stories about the Ball Families of Muncie, written by Earl L. Conn, retired dean of the Ball State College of Communication, Information and Media. "One thought of them as inseparable, of course," Conn said. Researching the book gave Conn a rather unique perspective on a woman whom, he admitted, he did not know well. "She was an excellent interviewee and had great lines that a writer could use, and much like her husband, she never held anything back that I could tell, he said. "She was very up front, very honest." Her physical presence was striking he added. "The one thing I heard people say, with which I'd agree, is what a beautiful woman she was," he said. But what was his own overriding assessment of Ball? "She enjoyed life and lived it to its fullest," he said with little hesitation. "You can't do much better than that."
The Star Press, Tuesday, December 2, 2003.
Services for Virginia B. Ball will be in First Presbyterian Church 1:30 p.m. Saturday with Rev. Ronald Naylor, pastor, officiating. Entombment will be private and there will be no calling hours. Surviving are five children, Frank E. Ball (wife: Rosemary), Marilyn Ball Heaton (husband: Robert), Frederick C. Ball (wife: Lucretia), Robert B. Ball, and Nancy Ball Keilty (husband: Tim); 19 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by two brothers, William Alford Beall and John A. Beall, and a sister, Mary Louise Beall Golightly Bell. Memorials may be directed to the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry c/o Ball State University Foundation; the Minnetrista Cultural Foundation, 1200 N. Minnetrista Parkway, Muncie, IN 47304, or the Muncie Center for the Arts, 520 E. Main St., Muncie, IN. The Meeks Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
The Star Press, Thursday, December 4, 2003.
Note: Virginia married Edmund F. Ball, June 28, 1952.
Virginia B. Ball, the adventurous Texan who came to Muncie as the wife of this city's leading industrialist, then forged her own identity as a philanthropist, community leader and environmentalist, died Monday, December 1, 2003, after a massive stroke suffered last week (Nov. 26). She was 84. "Obviously, she was one of the great women of Muncie and was a role model for all of us," said Beverley Pitts, provost and vice-president for academic affairs for Ball State University. That school was founded and nurtured by the family of Ball's late husband, Edmund F. Ball, who was president and chairman of Ball Corp. and died in 2000 at age 95.
Ball was with friends in her cottage on Little Cayman Island in the Caribbean last Wednesday when she was stricken, said her brother-in-law, John Fisher. On Thanksgiving Day, she was transported to Baptist Hospital in Miami, in what he termed "very grave" condition. Less than two weeks ago, she oversaw the unveiling of plans to erect a steel, glass and limestone sculpture called Catalyst, a memorial to her late husband, at the entrance to the Minnetrista Cultural Center. "This is a milestone. It's really a marvelous piece," she said. Her appearance at the event made a particularly strong impression on Fisher, the husband of Edmund Ball's surviving sister, Janice Ball Fisher, and the man who succeeded Ball as corporation president in 1970. "I think Virginia handled herself beautifully there," he recalled Monday, discussing her enthusiasm for the large work of sculpture. "She was very proud of it, and rightfully so." Her arts activities also included work for the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and serving as a trustee for the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts.
The month leading to her visit to the Caribbean had been a happy one for Ball, Fisher added, noting it included a ranching visit with friends in Arizona and the wedding of a grandchild in Mexico. "I think Virginia had a month of very pleasurable events in her life," Fisher said. Monday, Douglas Bakken, executive director of the Ball Brothers Foundation, was mulling the week's events. "She left on vacation in good spirits, full of energy and enthusiasm," he said. "We're still trying to absorb what it means." He was asked to briefly characterize her life and interests. "I guess her love affair was with the humanities," he said, noting she conscientiously backed her concerns with her actions and her pocketbook. "That says it all."
Ball was a founder of the Indiana Humanities Council, Bakken noted, and also the first female board member of the National Wildlife Federation, for which she remained a member of the president's council. It was Ball's strong support for BSU, both in company with her husband and on her own, that left the greatest impression with Pitts. She cited Ball's creation of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, a place where students are immersed in a semester of creative studies, then share the results with the community. "Her resources made it happen," Pitts said. "It's one of the richest learning experiences we've had for students on this campus, and Virginia was the reason."
Asked his overriding impression of his late sister-in-law, Fisher offered a personal reflection. "First of all, she was quite a lady," he said, "and obviously had a multitude of interests and enthusiasm for life. Being a couple Southerners, we were very close. I think Virginia and I had an understanding about a lot of things." Ranching, flying, scuba diving and traveling were among her interests, he noted, adding that the impeccably dressed industrialist's wife wasn't averse to getting dirty on hunting and fishing trips. "She was a great outdoors woman and a great sportsman," Fisher recalled. "It was always fun to be with her." Edmund and Virginia's respective strengths complemented each other, he added, noting her innate enthusiasm and people skills meshed well with his occasional reticence and shyness. "I would say they were quite supportive of each other," Fisher said. "She made a wonderful companion."
Born in Jacksonville, Texas, on Jan. 1, 1919, she graduated from Baylor University, for which she remained a generous benefactor in 1940. Edmund was widowed in 1949 when his first wife, Isabel, died tragically in an explosion on the couple's small boat. The Balls married June 28, 1952. She became the stepmother of his children Frank E. Ball, Marilyn Heaton and Fred C. Ball. Together, they had two children, Robert B. Ball and Nancy B. Keilty.
Her current board memberships were extensive and included the Ball State University Foundation and Ball Brothers Foundation, serving as a director for both, and other positions with Indiana Public Radio, the Muncie Children's Museum and the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. Twice named a Sagamore of the Wabash, she was also awarded honorary doctorates by Wabash College, Keuka College, Baylor University and BSU and won a VIVA (Very Important Volunteer Award) lifetime achievement award with her husband in 1993. Their lives together were recently covered in a comprehensive new book, Beneficience: Stories about the Ball Families of Muncie, written by Earl L. Conn, retired dean of the Ball State College of Communication, Information and Media. "One thought of them as inseparable, of course," Conn said. Researching the book gave Conn a rather unique perspective on a woman whom, he admitted, he did not know well. "She was an excellent interviewee and had great lines that a writer could use, and much like her husband, she never held anything back that I could tell, he said. "She was very up front, very honest." Her physical presence was striking he added. "The one thing I heard people say, with which I'd agree, is what a beautiful woman she was," he said. But what was his own overriding assessment of Ball? "She enjoyed life and lived it to its fullest," he said with little hesitation. "You can't do much better than that."
The Star Press, Tuesday, December 2, 2003.
Services for Virginia B. Ball will be in First Presbyterian Church 1:30 p.m. Saturday with Rev. Ronald Naylor, pastor, officiating. Entombment will be private and there will be no calling hours. Surviving are five children, Frank E. Ball (wife: Rosemary), Marilyn Ball Heaton (husband: Robert), Frederick C. Ball (wife: Lucretia), Robert B. Ball, and Nancy Ball Keilty (husband: Tim); 19 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by two brothers, William Alford Beall and John A. Beall, and a sister, Mary Louise Beall Golightly Bell. Memorials may be directed to the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry c/o Ball State University Foundation; the Minnetrista Cultural Foundation, 1200 N. Minnetrista Parkway, Muncie, IN 47304, or the Muncie Center for the Arts, 520 E. Main St., Muncie, IN. The Meeks Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
The Star Press, Thursday, December 4, 2003.
Note: Virginia married Edmund F. Ball, June 28, 1952.
Ball was with friends in her cottage on Little Cayman Island in the Caribbean last Wednesday when she was stricken, said her brother-in-law, John Fisher. On Thanksgiving Day, she was transported to Baptist Hospital in Miami, in what he termed "very grave" condition. Less than two weeks ago, she oversaw the unveiling of plans to erect a steel, glass and limestone sculpture called Catalyst, a memorial to her late husband, at the entrance to the Minnetrista Cultural Center. "This is a milestone. It's really a marvelous piece," she said. Her appearance at the event made a particularly strong impression on Fisher, the husband of Edmund Ball's surviving sister, Janice Ball Fisher, and the man who succeeded Ball as corporation president in 1970. "I think Virginia handled herself beautifully there," he recalled Monday, discussing her enthusiasm for the large work of sculpture. "She was very proud of it, and rightfully so." Her arts activities also included work for the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and serving as a trustee for the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts.
The month leading to her visit to the Caribbean had been a happy one for Ball, Fisher added, noting it included a ranching visit with friends in Arizona and the wedding of a grandchild in Mexico. "I think Virginia had a month of very pleasurable events in her life," Fisher said. Monday, Douglas Bakken, executive director of the Ball Brothers Foundation, was mulling the week's events. "She left on vacation in good spirits, full of energy and enthusiasm," he said. "We're still trying to absorb what it means." He was asked to briefly characterize her life and interests. "I guess her love affair was with the humanities," he said, noting she conscientiously backed her concerns with her actions and her pocketbook. "That says it all."
Ball was a founder of the Indiana Humanities Council, Bakken noted, and also the first female board member of the National Wildlife Federation, for which she remained a member of the president's council. It was Ball's strong support for BSU, both in company with her husband and on her own, that left the greatest impression with Pitts. She cited Ball's creation of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, a place where students are immersed in a semester of creative studies, then share the results with the community. "Her resources made it happen," Pitts said. "It's one of the richest learning experiences we've had for students on this campus, and Virginia was the reason."
Asked his overriding impression of his late sister-in-law, Fisher offered a personal reflection. "First of all, she was quite a lady," he said, "and obviously had a multitude of interests and enthusiasm for life. Being a couple Southerners, we were very close. I think Virginia and I had an understanding about a lot of things." Ranching, flying, scuba diving and traveling were among her interests, he noted, adding that the impeccably dressed industrialist's wife wasn't averse to getting dirty on hunting and fishing trips. "She was a great outdoors woman and a great sportsman," Fisher recalled. "It was always fun to be with her." Edmund and Virginia's respective strengths complemented each other, he added, noting her innate enthusiasm and people skills meshed well with his occasional reticence and shyness. "I would say they were quite supportive of each other," Fisher said. "She made a wonderful companion."
Born in Jacksonville, Texas, on Jan. 1, 1919, she graduated from Baylor University, for which she remained a generous benefactor in 1940. Edmund was widowed in 1949 when his first wife, Isabel, died tragically in an explosion on the couple's small boat. The Balls married June 28, 1952. She became the stepmother of his children Frank E. Ball, Marilyn Heaton and Fred C. Ball. Together, they had two children, Robert B. Ball and Nancy B. Keilty.
Her current board memberships were extensive and included the Ball State University Foundation and Ball Brothers Foundation, serving as a director for both, and other positions with Indiana Public Radio, the Muncie Children's Museum and the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. Twice named a Sagamore of the Wabash, she was also awarded honorary doctorates by Wabash College, Keuka College, Baylor University and BSU and won a VIVA (Very Important Volunteer Award) lifetime achievement award with her husband in 1993. Their lives together were recently covered in a comprehensive new book, Beneficience: Stories about the Ball Families of Muncie, written by Earl L. Conn, retired dean of the Ball State College of Communication, Information and Media. "One thought of them as inseparable, of course," Conn said. Researching the book gave Conn a rather unique perspective on a woman whom, he admitted, he did not know well. "She was an excellent interviewee and had great lines that a writer could use, and much like her husband, she never held anything back that I could tell, he said. "She was very up front, very honest." Her physical presence was striking he added. "The one thing I heard people say, with which I'd agree, is what a beautiful woman she was," he said. But what was his own overriding assessment of Ball? "She enjoyed life and lived it to its fullest," he said with little hesitation. "You can't do much better than that."
The Star Press, Tuesday, December 2, 2003.
Services for Virginia B. Ball will be in First Presbyterian Church 1:30 p.m. Saturday with Rev. Ronald Naylor, pastor, officiating. Entombment will be private and there will be no calling hours. Surviving are five children, Frank E. Ball (wife: Rosemary), Marilyn Ball Heaton (husband: Robert), Frederick C. Ball (wife: Lucretia), Robert B. Ball, and Nancy Ball Keilty (husband: Tim); 19 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by two brothers, William Alford Beall and John A. Beall, and a sister, Mary Louise Beall Golightly Bell. Memorials may be directed to the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry c/o Ball State University Foundation; the Minnetrista Cultural Foundation, 1200 N. Minnetrista Parkway, Muncie, IN 47304, or the Muncie Center for the Arts, 520 E. Main St., Muncie, IN. The Meeks Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
The Star Press, Thursday, December 4, 2003.
Note: Virginia married Edmund F. Ball, June 28, 1952.
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