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Ann Thatcher Ballard died on Friday. January 18, 2002 at the age of 72. She was born September 5, 1929 in Oklahoma City, OK. She was the first child of Henrietta Amelia Stamp of Wheeling, West Virginia and Stanton Willard Thatcher of Wichita Falls. TX. Her family moved to Santa Fe, NM in 1936. She attended grade school in Brownmoor School for Girls at Bishops Lodge. As a young girl she enjoyed the family ranch, Esperitu Santo, on the Holy Ghost Creek near Terrero. In 1942, the family moved to Amarillo, TX where she attended Amarillo High School and graduated in 1947. She went to Scripps College in Pomona, CA for a year and transferred to the University of New Mexico, joining Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. She graduated in 1951. She married Air Force pilot, Lt. John Garland Ballard, Jr., on April 5, 1952, having met him on a blind date in Amarillo. Along with her husband, the Air Force became her career, and their first child, Amy, was born in the Army Hospital in Fukuoka City, Kyushu, Japan. Assignments led to Stead AFB (SAC), Reno, NV, Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH and Stewart AFB, Newburg, NY, where John III and William Stanton were born. In 1960, the family moved to Menlo Park and Sunnyvale, CA. John received orders to Vietnam and Ann stayed in Sunnyvale where the children were attending school. In 1965, Holloman AFB was their next stop before returning to Sunnyvale and then to Washington, D.C. where John attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and was stationed at the Pentagon. This led to the family's move to Albuquerque where John's last posting was Kirtland AFB. This allowed Ann to meet old friends, mostly members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) Sorority from school. In every new assignment, she joined a KKG Club, and she recently received her 50 year pin. In Albuquerque, she was a member of the Green Thumb Garden Club, Kappa Gourmet, Kappa Bridge, Cosmopolitan Bridge and the Twentieth Century Club in Washington, D.C. She volunteered at Presbyterian Hospital for 27 years with the Tuesday Hospital Auxiliary. Ann enjoyed attending ACLOA, now Musical Theatre of the Southwest, productions, playing bridge, traveling, music and being with her family and friends. She is survived by her husband, John; daughter, Amy, of Washington, D.C.; sons, John and Bill of Albuquerque; grandchild, Stanton, of Albuquerque; sister, Karen Freund of Austin, TX; brother, Tom, of Amarillo, TX. A Memorial service will be held, Thursday, January 24, 2002 at 3:30 p.m. French Mortuary, Wyoming Blvd. Chapel, 7121 Wyoming Blvd. NE. Interment to take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to a charitable organization of your choice.
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