Memorial service for William E. “Billy” Ballard, Jr., 47 of Lawton will be at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 9, 2007 at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home Chapel with Jim Antwine officiating.
Mr. Ballard died on Sunday, August 5, 2007 in Devol, Oklahoma.
William E. “Billy” Ballard Jr., was born on September 6, 1959 in Deritter, Louisiana to William E. Ballard, Sr. and Dorothy Watson Ballard. He moved with his family as an infant to Fort Hood Texas and the family moved to Lawton in 1970 where Billy attended one year at Hoover Elementary and then Kuntz Elementary School, Tomlinson Junior High School and Eisenhower High School where he graduated in 1977. He then began working for T.G. &Y Department Store where he was a manager. He later worked for Dolese Rock Company and then for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company where, celebrating 25 years of service on July 5, 2007. He married Michelle Poling on September 2, 1995 at the Mattie Beal Home in Lawton. He was an avid hunter and was a member of the National Wildlife Turkey Federation Club. He hit an Oklahoma record Cy Curtis Buck in 2000.
Survivors include his wife, Michelle, of the home; his mother, Dorothy Ballard, of Lawton, two stepsons, Chris Neher of Edmond, Oklahoma and David Neher, of Lawton; his stepdaughter, Melissa Neher, of Edmond, Oklahoma; four brothers, Jme Ballard, of Lawton, Jerry Ballard and his wife, Susan, of Lawton, Chris Ballard, of Stigler, Oklahoma, and Patrick Ballard and his wife, Angela, of Norman; two sisters, Regina Ballard, of Lawton and Dollie Martinez, and her husband, Ivan, of Sugarland, Texas; his mother and father in law, Dona and JoAnn Casorla, of Northglen, CO; two sisters in law, Vicky Cassabaum and her husband, Craig, of Lions, CO, and Denise Powers and her husband, Todd, of Gulfport, Mississippi; his brother in law, Kirk Casorla, and his wife, Connie, of Northglen, CO, 8 nieces and nephews; and two great nephews.
He was preceded in death by his father, William E. Ballard; his brother Richard Ballard and one nephew, Richard Miller.