Chris Butler Ball

1948 - 2024

Chris Butler Ball

February 4, 1948 - April 7, 2024

Jacksonville, Florida - Donna Christopher Butler Ball, 76, of Jacksonville, Florida, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her family on April 7, 2024. Chris was born on February 4th, 1948, in Columbus, Georgia, to Clarence and Weezie Butler. She graduated from The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia and Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. While at Hollins, she met her husband and partner, Willis Manville "Billy" Ball III and they were married on February 14th, 1970 in Columbus. After his training as a naval aviator, they returned to his hometown, and in 1971, they settled in Jacksonville.

Chris was a passionate advocate for children, education, healthcare and the arts. She was an active and impactful philanthropist, though she generally preferred for her efforts to remain unsung. She served selflessly on many boards, including The Junior League of Jacksonville, The American Cancer Society, The Women's Board of Wolfson Children's Hospital, The Cummer Museum, The Jacksonville Zoo, The Bolles School (where she served as the first female chair), Washington & Lee University, the University of North Florida Foundation, the Bradley-Turner Foundation and the Baptist Health Foundation.

Chris was known by her loved ones to be an avid reader with a deep, intellectual curiosity in a variety of subjects and pursued her interests with vigor. She returned to school in midlife to pursue a Master's degree in Comparative Religious Studies at the University of North Florida. Years later, she completed a Master Gardener program where she underwent intensive horticultural training and, upon completion, volunteered to share her knowledge with her community.

She was predeceased by her mother, Sarah Louise Turner Butler, and father, Clarence Cooper Butler, MD. She is survived by her husband, Willis Manville Ball III; her sons, Philip Butler Ball (Hilton) and Christopher McNeill Ball (Lyssa), her daughter, Sarah Gilbert Ball; her six grandchildren, Mason Cooper Ball, Georgia Anne Ball, Susanna Rees Ball, Christopher Maclean Ball, Phebe Louise Ball, and Lucille Callaway Mason; her sister, Elizabeth Butler "Betsy" Ramsay (Al), and her brother, Stephen Turner Butler (Kent).

A memorial service will be held on Monday, April 22nd, at 11:00 a.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 1100 Stockton Street, Jacksonville, Florida. A reception at The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Bower Lyman Center for Medically Complex Children at Baptist Hospital, of which she was the founding benefactor, http://giving.baptistjax.com/MedicallyComplex.