Brenda was born on January 24th, 1937, in Cleethorpes, England and adopted by Mabel (Manning) and William Bowring where she grew up in Sheffield, England with brothers George and Allan Manning, and Eric Bowring. Brenda was an adored daughter and often shared stories of surviving World War II bombings surrounded by family and neighbors who took their evening tea in a shared shelter. She met her husband, Maj. Buddie C. Ballard USAF (Ret.), at a Christmas Eve party in 1955 while stationed at Sculthorpe RAF. They married October 19, 1956, and welcomed a daughter, Amanda, born in Sculthorpe, England and a son, Buddie, Jr., born in Omaha, Nebraska.
After years of living on various Airforce Bases throughout the US, they finally settled with their family Austin, Texas.
Brenda was a devoted mother and grandmother who maintained a beautiful home, prepared wonderful meals, and enjoyed afternoon tea with chocolates and biscuits. She has bestowed many English traditions upon her family such as breakfast with marmite toast, Christmas Dinner of Roast Lamb with mint sauce, topped off with Yule Log and Trifle. She shared her love for classic movies and music with her grandchildren often and a few of her favorite artists were Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole. She especially loved “My Girl” by The Temptations. She worked for many years in Austin as a legal secretary, owned a flower shop in South Austin and was an investment advisory operations assistant. Brenda brought elegance and grace with an English touch to each day and modeled resourcefulness and “moderation in everything.” Through the years she loved and spoiled her English bulldogs Sweet Pea, Mabel, Rindy, and Tilly, and her Shih Tzu Elsie.
Brenda is survived by her daughter Amanda Ballard Rollings (Dan), son Buddie Ballard, Jr. (Julie), grandchildren Morgan Leslie Orr (Nick), Kristen Leslie Bolduc (Josh), Casey Leslie Foltz (Nathan) and Sarah, Ben and Sam Ballard, her Great grandchildren Brooke and Reese Wuellner, Alice and June Bolduc, and Jack and Riley Orr. She is also survived by her sisters in law Kay Ballard Sams, Mary Ballard Kelly and Janice Ballard Jackson (Terry) all of Birmingham, Alabama.
Brenda’s memorial service will be private in the chapel at Tarrytown United Methodist Church, with her burial at Mt. Lebanon First Congregational Methodist Church on Chandler Mountain in Steele, Alabama.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Helping Hand Home for Children at 3804 Avenue B, Austin, TX 78751.
“Our Girl” will always be loved and never forgotten.
Thank you, Lord for the gift of Brenda, Mom, Nan in our lives. Amen
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