Stan Ballou, age 80, of Prosper, TX (formerly of Denison, TX) passed away on March 31, 2020. Family graveside services will be held at Cedarlawn Memorial Park in Sherman, Texas Saturday 1:00 PM with Todd Catteau and Basil McClure officiating.
He was a Christian who loved the Lord. He was a long-time active member of the Park Avenue Church of Christ where he served on the benevolence committee and was active in the SAMPACC group. Prior to this he attended Woods Street Church of Christ in Sherman where he served as deacon over the finance committee.
Stan was born July 2, 1939 in Denison, TX, the son of Hayston R. Ballou and Mamie Myers Ballou. He graduated from Denison High School in 1957. While in high school he lettered in track, baseball and football. In 1956 he was named all-district quarterback in 7-4A. He was considered to be a really good athlete and received several football scholarship offers upon his graduation. Instead of pursuing football, Stan began work with Texas Power and Light Co. in August of 1957. While working for TP&L he attended Arlington State College.
On September 6, 1958, he married the love of his life, Melba J. Bearden, also of Denison and they were married for 61 years.
In 1960, he graduated from Arlington State College with a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. While in college he was assigned to the TP&L Denton office. His first assignment after graduation was in the TP&L office in Decatur. During his 35 years of employment with TXU Electric, he was assigned to Denton, Decatur, Waxahachie & Athens. At the age of 24 he was appointed as distribution superintendent and engineer in Athens. He was the youngest person serving in that capacity throughout the system. In addition, he was assigned to Temple, and then the corporate office in Dallas, then to Fairfield (Big Brown Steam Electric Station) Mt. Pleasant (Montecello Steam Electric Station), Henderson (Martin Lake Steam Electric Station), back to the Dallas corporate office and then to Sherman (Northern Division) and finally the Killeen office. He always kiddingly claimed that after 13 moves and arriving in Killeen that he did not have any furniture worth having. At the time of his retirement in November 1992, he was the District Manager in Killeen, Tx for T U Electric. While in Killeen, he served as Vice Chairman of the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of the Killeen Industrial Foundation, board member of the Killeen Food Care Center and board member of the AUSA-Central Texas, and a member of the Rotary Club. During his stay in Killeen, his biggest disappointment was the tragic and unnecessary loss of two of his employees in the shooting spree at Luby’s Cafeteria in October 1991. Shortly after his retirement, he and his wife moved back home to Denison. After moving back to Denison, he served for three years on the Civil Service Commission. In September 2019 he and Melba made Prosper, Texas their home.
Stan was a person that loved practical jokes. A good practical joke on someone would just make his day. He was also a person that was brought up to work which showed throughout his working career. He worked hard and wanted everyone around him to do the same.
He is survived by his wife Melba of Prosper,TX, two daughters, Robbie Parks and husband Mike of Shreveport, LA and Tonja Miller and husband Bill of Prosper, TX; eight grandchildren, Whitney Hoosier and husband Shay of Frisco, TX, Wendy Lingle of Shreveport, LA, Chris Miller and wife Jenny of Richardson, Andrew Miller of Frisco, TX, Trey Miller of Austin, TX, Addison Miller of Prosper, TX, Michael Parks of Nashville, TN, Rachael Thom and husband Michael of Ft. Smith, AR and eight great grandchildren Cade Coates, Pruitt Coile, Beckett King, Emma Brown, Callie Miller, Hayston Hoosier, Luke Miller and Holden Hoosier.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.bratcherfuneralhome.com for the Ballou family.
Services have been entrusted with Bratcher Funeral Home, Denison.
In lieu of flowers, please consider reaching to your local first responders and making sure you are taking care of those that are on the front line.
