HAMPSHIRE - Dawn M. Ball, 88, passed away Wednesday evening, July 23, 2014 at her daughter's home in Genoa. She was born on Ball Street in Elgin on March 29, 1926 the daughter of Vincent and Anna (Grefsrud) Holtz. Following her mother's illness and subsequent passing she lived at the Larkin Home in Elgin and attended Elgin schools. As a young woman she worked as a clerk in a linen store and later as an accountant and a teller in a downtown Chicago bank. She married Robert J. "Jack" Ball on August 1, 1948 at St. Paul Lutheran church in Elgin and they lived all their married life in Hampshire. Mrs. Ball was very active in the Hampshire business community over the years as a teller at the State Bank of Hampshire, a seamstress and floor manager at International Products, a nighttime 911 dispatcher, a library aide at NIU, and as a longtime cashier at Block Bros. Country Market. She had served as past commander of VFW Ladies Auxiliary and was a card-holding member of the Yackety-Yack Pinochle Club. As an accomplished quilter and passionate baker, Dawn expressed her own creative talents while providing comfort and care to her large family. Surviving are her six children, Patricia Morton of Woodstock, Norman (Penny) Ball of Elgin, Laura Holland of Effingham, Janice (Paul) Power of Chicago, Molly (Bryan) Ball-Harrison on Genoa, Jim Ball of Hampshire; 15 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; a sister Delores (Charles) Ball of Franklin Grove and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Jack on October 26, 2004; her son, R. Mark Ball on July 10, 2009; two brothers, Robert and Roland "Corky" Holtz; and a special aunt, Emma Schofield. Private family services with burial of cremains in the Starks Cemetery in Rutland Township will be held at a later date. Memorials contributions if desired may be directed to JourneyCare Hospice, 405 Lake Zurich Road, Barrington, IL 60010. The Fredrick Funeral Home in Hampshire is assisting the family. For info, call 847-683-2711.




Published in Chicago Suburban Daily Herald on July 27, 2014