Donald Wayne Ball,

Born 05-02-1949 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, passed away 01-18-2022 in his home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma

Previous Wife Gayla Beth Ball (Gatlin) Born 08-31-1953 Died 04-03-2011, married 04-18-1974 in Page, Arizona

Current Wife Kathleen Ball (Shiley) married 06-02-2011 in Sand Springs, OK.

Family:

Parents:

Mother- Irene Ball (Kinney) B- 05-24-1927 D-10-14-2013

Father- Alfred Ball deceased

Preceded in death by:

Wife Gayla Ball, Mother Irene Ball, Father Alfred Ball, Brothers Jimmy Ball and Douglas Ball, and Granddaughters Cammie Rose and Kara Horn (Parker)

Survived by:

Wife Kathleen Ball, stepchildren Leslie Hall & husband Ira Hall and children, Phillip Shiley & wife Trisha and children, Scott Shiley, and daughter Piper Shiley

Children with Peggy Baughman:

Michelle Livingston & children Destiny Vanarsdel and husband Tim & children, Dustin Parker & wife Denise & children, Erin Parker

James Ball & children Dillion Ball & wife Faythe, and Ashlynn Ball

Kenneth Ball & wife Trang & daughters Shelbi Ball and Hunter Ball

Children with Gayla Ball

Keri Miller & husband Michael Miller & children- Rachel Sarah Beth Taylor & husband Kage and children, Jacob Micaiah Miller & wife Susannah Miller, Rebecca Diane Miller, Daniel Oscar Thaddeus Miller, Isaac Michael Levi Miller, Kayla Daphney Lois Miller

Siblings

Wanda Davis and son Ricky, Allen Ball and family, Linda Lawson & daughter Ashley and Linda's partner Kenneth Hammick, sisters-in-law Donna Ledbetter & children Chris & Shelly, sister-in-law Debbie Ball & children Jason, Jeremy, Megan.

Don Ball was a jokester, loved to laugh, enjoyed traveling the USA, Canada, and Mexico for work as an Expert welder. He had been to 49 US states and refused to cross the Mississippi River to go to Maine for his 50 ^th state. He was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War where he was wounded and ultimately discharged due to that wound. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and enjoyed going with many people over the years. His favorite fishing spot was in Wyoming called the Miracle Mile. He had a wild side as a boy and as he became a husband and father, he changed his ways a bit. He had a lead foot when it came to driving and often knew the HWY patrol officer or Sherriff by name. Don would give you the last money he had or the shirt off his back even if he was broke himself. He loved to give to organizations that he knew were doing good things like St. Jude, Angel Tree, and to a local church and sister church in Africa.

When he had grandchildren, he would often say, "If I would have known grandkids were this much fun, I would have had them first." He had some crazy, hilarious, precious, and heartbreaking moments with them, several stories many of you heard more than once. On more than one occasion the grandchildren would pull a whopping move that he laughed historically about, but if any of his children or wives would have done the same thing, we would have had the biggest chewing out ever. He was extremely loyal to those that he loved. Not a man that would put up with being taken advantage of or lied too. If you lost his trust, it would be nearly impossible to get it back without true repentance.

He had many regrets when he found out that he was dying of stage 4 cancer and was working to rectify them. Unfortunately, like most people, he did not get enough time to do so. He decided January 2 ^nd he would not do the MRI or the pinpoint radiation or chemo. He held on until January 18 ^th and passed away holding his wife, Kathy, and daughter, Keri's hands. We knew he went to be with Gayla, Jim, Camie, and Kara like he said many times before passing away.

Please do not wait until you get your expiration date to reconcile, you may not be able to finish the list. Do not wait till the end to realize that the time you should have been serving Christ, you were serving yourself. Don had these regrets & burdens to take with him. He also wanted us to share that he did not want anyone to make the same mistakes. He made it clear to his wife and daughter that he did not want anyone to see him in his hospital bed and in that much pain, he did not want that to be their last memory of him. The Lord was gracious to give family and friends a few weeks to say what they needed to be said in person or by phone. He did not want anyone to cry for him.

He wants you to remember all the good times, funny moments, precious events, and the pranks he pulled. Here are a few short phrases for some of those times. Snipe hunting, bottle rocket wars, blow guns, fishing hooks in the nose, falling in the river fishing but pulling his wallet out in mid-air so that it did not get wet, sneaking up on people he took hunting, teaching grandchildren how to wash the carpet on the boat, the famous "beating tree" that he never took anyone to but always told you he would, direct order or is it a direct command, showing off the hole in his belly where Gayla shot him (his belly button), the cannons, treasure hunting and a certain sycamore tree which made a poor excuse for an ash tray, his littlest girls telling him they weren't babies anymore because they were almost 3 because he always called them his baby girls, the famous mini "bell pepper" that he gave to his favorite son-in-law, the legendary moss-gold, the it goes "bang" incident, box your ears off, a few embarrassing moments he actual turned red and slid under 2 different dinner tables because his wife Gayla and daughter Keri could bring an entire restaurant to laughter over something he did and was shared loudly or threatened to do. Famous last words to my husband, Michael Miller, from my dad "boy, I ain't liven to no 90". Well dad, you made it to 72 and I couldn't have had a better father.

Cemetery Chapel service will be held 2:00 p.m., Monday, January 24, 2022 at the Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel in Mannford, Oklahoma.  Honorary pallbearers are Phillip Shiley, Scott Shiley, Jacob Miller, Daniel Miller and Isaac Miller.  Funeral services are entrusted to the Mobley-Groesbeck Funeral Service.