Harold Glenn Ball

1931-2020

Our dearly loved husband, father and grandfather, Harold Glenn (HG) Ball, (89) peacefully passed away on Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City, UT. He was the only child of Ray Oliver Ball and Esther Lena Duering, He was born February 17, 1931 in Township 6 (Stockwell), Frontier County, Nebraska. Married Patricia Hatch in November 1948. Later Divorced.

During the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, the family moved from Nebraska to Leadville, Colorado. His father, Ray went to work as a mining engineer in the Climax Molybdenum Mine, near Leadville. The Molybdenum mine was once the largest mine in the United States. Climax was one of America’s first “company towns”, built by the mining company to attract and keep workers in this remote location by providing housing, a company store, a cafeteria and other benefits. Esther ran the kitchen for the cafeteria. In 1942 the US Army created Camp Hale near Leadville to train soldiers in mountain warfare. Ray and his brother, Bill helped build the barracks for the soldiers to live in during their training. Ray’s carpentry skills were passed down to Harold, and continue with his son, Jeffrey.

Many boom and bust cycles in those high mountains sent the family to Salt Lake City where Esther and Ray opened Esther’s Café. Harold worked at the café as a young boy. He graduated from South High School in Salt Lake City, UT.

Harold began working part-time with Star Transportation as a truck driver at the age of fifteen. At age eighteen he went to work for Ringsby and later for IML. He joined the National Guard and activated to full time Army for one year. His father passed away while Harold was on active duty and he received an early Honorable Discharge to assist his mother in running the café. After selling the cafe he drove sleeper for the next 17 years and 13 additional years on division runs for IML until they closed in 1984. He then became employed with Viking/FedEx in 1985 driving division runs until his retirement at the age of 75 years old.

At the age of 74, Harold received an award from FedEx as driver of the year. He was on a 2-hour call to report to work for at least 12 hours per day from the beginning of his driving career to the end. With such limited time outside of work, he chose to spend quality time with his family during those precious hours. One year in the 1960’s his tax accountant used a formula that showed his total hours away from home being 7500 hours—there are only 8760 hours in a year. This gives us an idea of what little time a line driver has at home.

Harold lived his life with the philosophy of “No Time for Tickets” and “No time for Accidents”. This philosophy was developed early in his driving years, when most highways were two lanes and ran through towns, cities and one-way bridges. He was never in an accident where there was an injury while driving. During his life he was employed nearly 60 years in the freight business. He traveled roughly seven million miles, counting his time in the sleeper. He never missed a day of work due to illness or choosing not to go to work.

“I thank God every day for my good health and positive attitude that enabled me to accomplish this.”

Harold was deeply loved by his children and grandchildren. He was an incredibly strong man that seemed indestructible. He modeled an exceptional work ethic. He loved to teach and share his life stories. He especially loved taking his family out to breakfast. He was always so positive, even up to the very last moments of his life. He is missed greatly.

Harold leaves behind his wife, Karen Ball, children, Shauna (Tom) Pfaff, Vickey (John) Hellstrom, Jeffrey (Tara) Ball, and is predeceased by his daughter, Cheri (Duane) Betournay. He also leaves behind two stepchildren, David (Lisa) Wolfe, and Dawn (Julian) Hancock. He loved spending time with his 15 grandchildren: Kim (Kyle) Roberts, Tami Dangerfield, Nick (Chandee) Pfaff, Trent (Pam) Hyde, Lisa Hyde, Josh (Serena) Betournay, Chris (Kayelynn) Hellstrom, April (Mike) Nelson, Emilee (Tim) Fortin, Brianna Butler, Samuel, Timothy, and Zachariah Ball, Jazmyn and Hannah Wolfe. Harold also was blessed with 25 great grandchildren.