Claudia Ball

BALL
Died Ash Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Born in El Paso, Hudspeth County, Texas to Elizabeth Hudspeth Abbey and William Campbell Abbey on November 5, 1930. Shortly thereafter they moved to Hartford, CT where her father worked for the Hartford Insurance Company. They moved back to San Antonio and she entered St. Mary's Hall in the 6th grade in 1941. At her graduation in 1948, she was named the superior Senior Class President (amazing since she was caught smoking in the bathroom and would have been kicked out but for her position), and received the History & Spanish Awards. Her yearbook pronounced that she was a photographic artist of wide renown and was known for her silverplated golf clubs. She spent summers with her grandparents Claude B. Hudspeth and Elizabeth Ann Royal Hudspeth on the Hudspeth River Ranch where she actively participated in round-ups and shearing. She would tell stories of leaving the house in the wee hours to ride horseback to the shearing barn at the other end of the ranch. There were no trailers to haul the horses to the working pasture. This is when her love of ranching developed. She attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and bragged that her Liberal Arts education had served her well. She received the honorary key, Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1953 she was an Order of the Alamo Fiesta Duchess of the Grecian Hillsides and married her Duke, the late Judge T. Armour Ball, who died in 1990 of myasthenia gravis. Their son, the late William Armour Ball, died in 1985, and is survived by his wife, Kathleen Curry. She is survived by their daughter, Mary Alice Ball Strunk and her husband William Robert "Billy Bob" Strunk and her three grandchildren, William Armour Strunk, Sarah Campbell Strunk, and Claudia Abbey Strunk. She was very proud of her grandchildren's accomplishments and especially enjoyed attending their many athletic games. Also surviving are her dear friends JoAnn Andera, Mourette Boehme, Sandy and Brenda Atherton, Mark and Stephanie Alsup, and Fidencia Castillo, her patient and kind companion for 18 years. Claudia liked to keep busy and, after marriage, shared her talents with the McNay Art School and was an editor for The Alamo Heights News. She was noted for her hysterical "Irma Bombeck" styled articles. She also traded her bookkeeping skills with a landscape architect to ensure her yard was beautiful. Her knowledge of flowers, native plants, trees and birds is evident by her beautiful flower gardens at the ranch, which base was solid ROCK! She was the San Antonio Country Club Women's Club Golf Champion for 1959, 1960 and 1963, and the President, Treasurer, and Director of the Texas State Golf Association. She played golf all over the state and in Colorado, where she especially enjoyed the Kissing Camels Tournament, "The Smoochers". She started the "Quien Sabe?" tournament at the SACC. In her later years she was invited to play at the challenging course the Augusta National, where she played although she hadn't played in years. During Hemisfair, as a favor to her neighbor, John Whitmore, she organized social events as well as tours for the Institute of Texas Cultures. Her volunteer position evolved into employment as the "Head Stripper," the title she gave for typesetter for the exhibit production. Thereafter, she was involved with the Texas Folklife Festival as its Assistant Director and Founder and subsequent Director until present. She nicknamed herself the "Dragon Lady", to defer participants from making unusual requests. Upon retirement, Claudia became a proud exhibitor demonstrating her grandmother's pickles and jelly recipes and giving countless tastes to happy attendees of the festival. She had previously founded the Canterbury Cannery with two of her friends and sold, packaged and shipped tasty product, including their famous Jalapeno Jelly, to the 50 states. She instilled in her descendants their proud heritage and truly loved all the friends she made during her years of involvement with the Folklife Festival. She reluctantly retired from the ITC to pursue her lifelong dream of managing her ranch and to ensure her descendants would have a legacy and history to treasure. Her next career as a woman rancher produced many awards and accolades including Conservation Rancher of the Year in 1983. Claudia was the first woman to serve on the Del Rio National Bank Board of Directors and then the Texas Community Bank. She was a founder Director of the Holistic Resource Management Program, serving as its President, Treasurer and Director, and implemented the principles she studied on her beloved Hudspeth River Ranch. The ranch served as a teaching program for students from Texas A & M University, Sul Ross University, and Angelo State University. She also traveled to South Africa and lectured on the Stan Parsons grazing method. Claudia was progressive in educating the future generation of ranchers. She inspired her grandchildren, Armour, Sarah and Abbey to respect and continue the stewardship of the land. An avid hunter, she loved dove hunting, duck hunting in Louisiana, deer hunting at her beloved Hudspeth River Ranch, quail hunting with her dear friends, Leo and Frances Hearn, and antelope hunting in Hudspeth County where she bagged a Boone & Crockett (which she proudly mounted above her desk as a warning to any cocky man!) She actively pursued her love of bird hunting--shooting pheasants in Denmark, red-leg partridge in Spain, and participated in at least seven safaris in South Africa. In addition, she was a RABID SPURS FAN! Claudia endowed two foundations to support her passions. She would be honored if gifts were made to: The Texas Folklife Festival, William Armour Ball Endowment, Institute of Texan Cultures, 801 E. Durango, San Antonio, TX 78205; and the Claudia Abbey Ball Endowment for the Teachers at St. James Episcopal School, P.O. Drawer 1129, Del Rio, Texas 78841. Although she never established endowments for, she strongly supported the SA Humane Society as well as the SA Public Library FOUNDATION.
Pallbearers: Billy Bob Strunk, Armour Strunk, Sandy Atherton, Mark Alsup, Jim Perry, Bryan Worden, Conice Boenicke, PA-C and David Haynes. Honorary Pallbearers: Claude B. Hudspeth, III., Tuffy Whitehead, Tom C. Frost, Robert Tucker, John Weston, Ab Abernathy, PhD, David Winters, Sam E. Madin, David Wallace, Byron Hodge, Eugene Miller, Louis Stumberg, Santiago Hyslop, Homero Torres, and Henry V. "Buddy" Campbell.
A Visitation will be held Monday, March 14th at 1:00 PM at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Services will be held on Monday, March 14, 2011, at 2:00 PM at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, with Bishop Folts presiding. A service will be held at her home parish, St. James' Episcopal Church, 206 West Greenwood Street, Del Rio, Texas at 10:30 am, the following day, March 15th, followed by a graveside service at 1:30 pm at the Hudspeth River Ranch. The family wishes to thank her caring physicians, Conice Boenicke, PA-C, Carlos Morales, M.D., Harold Felter, M.D., Lon Smith, M.D., the kind staff at Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital and Methodist Hospital.
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at www.porterloring.com
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