Ottis Gene Ball, M.D.

Ottis was born in Lyman, Mississippi, on November 22, 1933, to Mildred and Leonard D. Ball, Sr. He attended school in Gulfport and Handsboro, Mississippi, before attending Perkinston Junior College. He continued his education at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, until he was admitted into the first freshman class of the then-new University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson. Being first alphabetically in his class, Dr. Ball became the first graduate to attend all four years at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

Dr. Ball spent two years in the United States Army, as a general medical officer, at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana. He then returned to Jackson for a radiology residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC). After residency, Dr. Ball practiced radiology in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Tupelo, Mississippi, before joining the Radiological Group in Jackson. Dr. Ball practiced with the Radiological Group for 32 years, until his first retirement. But his love of radiology only allowed him to retire for one year. He went back into practice with the St. Dominic Radiological Group, and later became head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Imaging at UMC. He finally retired in 2007.

Dr. Ball was a member of the American Medical Association, Mississippi State Medical Association, and Central Medical Society. He was also a fellow in the American College of Radiology, a member of the Mississippi Radiological Society, and a co-founder of the Mississippi Society of Nuclear Medicine.

On December 21, 1957, Ottis married the love of his life, Dixie Faye Smith. For 61 years of marriage, Ottis and Dixie were inseparable, had a deep commitment to each other, and enjoyed a full life together.

Ottis and Dixie had two church homes: First Baptist Church – Jackson and Trinity Presbyterian Church in Jackson. Ottis was an active member at both churches, having served as a Sunday School teacher and deacon at First Baptist and as an elder at Trinity. Ottis had an abiding faith in his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and he shared it with others. While at Trinity, he became passionate about Evangelism Explosion, a ministry that trains people to share their faith in Jesus. Ottis regularly led teams into Jackson neighborhoods to share the Gospel and was blessed to see others come to a saving faith in Jesus. Ottis’s faith is now sight, as he is now in the actual presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for all eternity.

Ottis is survived by his wife, Dixie; son, Steve Ball of Houma, Louisiana, and his children, Parks and Olivia; son, Keith (Camille) Ball of Madison, Mississippi, and their children, Amzi, Story, Callie Keith, Iris, Watson, and Joshua; and son, Brad (Jennifer) Ball of Nashville, TN, and their children, Betty Brueck (Braxton) Brakefield, Isaac, Samuel, Elaine, and Anna.

Visitation for Ottis Gene Ball will be held at Parkway Funeral Home, 1161 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, MS on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Memorial donations may be made in Ottis’s name to First Baptist Church – Jackson or Trinity Presbyterian Church in Jackson.