Dale Ball

1924 - 2016

Ball, Dale



Dale Ball died on February 14, 2016 at the age of 91. He was born in Butte, Nebraska on May 20, 1924 to Curtis Mack Ball and Ida Myatt Ball. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sylvia; four children: Portia Blackman and husband David of Santa Fe, Alan Ball and partner Karon Clayton of Santa Fe, Leah Pahlmeyer and husband Perry of Durango, CO, and Sarah Taylor and husband Timothy of North Oaks, MN; two stepchildren: David Hathaway and wife Carolyn Greene of Underhill, VT, and Janet Hathaway and husband Timothy Hooton of Albuquerque; five grandchildren: Adam Langdon, Joel and Jeff Blackman, and Abigail and Isabel Taylor, and three great-grandsons. He was preceded in death by his stepson John Hathaway in 2011.

Dale spent his childhood in Butte and Fremont, Nebraska. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II, serving as a B-24 navigator in the South Pacific. Following his discharge as a 1st Lieutenant he attended the University of Nebraska where he served as Student Council President and a member of the honorary Innocents Society, graduating in 1949. He married Phyllis Sorensen in 1948 and together they had four children.

Dale was active in the securities and banking business for 38 years, was a civic leader and a lifelong lover of the arts. Dale and Sylvia moved to New Mexico in 1981 where he was the owner and president of the Bank of Santa Fe from 1981 to 1987. Relocating to Indianapolis in 1987, he returned to New Mexico in 1992 and lived in Cochiti Lake until moving to Albuquerque in 2005. In 1992 he founded the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, a land trust that has continued to protect land and create and maintain trails in northern New Mexico.

After retiring from the SFCT, Dale began work on a trail system in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, something he envisioned during his land trust work. He completed this 22+ mile trail system in 2004 at the age of 80 and leaves the Dale Ball Trails as his legacy to all the hikers and bicyclists who continue to enjoy them.

Memorial contributions may be given to the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 23985, Santa Fe 87502, or to a charity of your choice. No service is planned.