Joyce U. Ballard

Joyce Unell Hammonds Ballard, 86, died on Thursday, August 28, 2014 at her home in Austin, Texas. She will be buried alongside her late husband in her hometown of Van Alstyne, Texas following a graveside service at 11am on Saturday, September 6. There will be a visitation at the Scoggins Funeral Home in Van Alstyne from 6pm – 8pm on Friday, September 5.

Joyce was born on October 31, 1927 in Van Alstyne, Texas to Joseph William Hammonds and Sarah Ann McCoy Hammonds. She was the youngest of her eight siblings; Lorenza Daw Hammonds Bennett, Ernest Dee Hammonds, Bennie Mozelle Hammonds Blakely, Joseph William Hammonds, Jr., Veneble Lee Hammonds, Melba Jean Hammonds Brown-Bullock, and Virginia Inez Hammonds Caraway. Until she married, her older brothers still fondly called her "Baby".

Her parents were farmers and she often told her children and grandchildren stories of picking cotton by hand when she was child. She was proud of the fact that she was a 5th generation native Texan and could trace her ancestry back to more than one founder of the Republic of Texas and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. She worked for a brief time as a telephone operator during a time when operators still manually connected calls but for most her life she was happiest to be a "Mom". She married the love of her life, Herman Louis Ballard on September 11, 1948 and stayed married to him until his death in 1979. She never remarried. Her very large extended family included not only her many relatives but also those whom she made family by choice. They called her by many names including Joyce, Ms. B., Aunt Joyce, Great Aunt Joyce, Cousin Joyce, 2nd Cousin Joyce, Nanny Ballard, Baby Sister, Gran, and Mom. She loved them all.

She was a member of the Faith United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, the Eastern Star Cedar Bayou Chapter in Baytown, Texas, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

She is survived by her brother, Veneble Lee Hammonds; her son Joe Dee Ballard and daughter-in-law Kelly Fisher; her son James Michael Ballard and daughter-in-law Vivian Schenker Ballard; her granddaughters Rachel Allison Ballard and Miriam Joy Ballard; and her daughter Kerryn Ann Ballard and son-in-law Jimmy M. Jackman.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Herman Louis Ballard, and her daughter Carolyn Joy Ballard.