Ballenger, Joyce Thomasson

KILGORE -- Joyce Thomasson Ballenger passed away peacefully 
surrounded by her family on December 27, 2006, after a sudden 
heart problem. Services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, December 
30, 2006, at the First Christian Church in Kilgore, Texas. The 
Reverend Bill Blanks will officiate, and Mrs. Jean Worden will 
provide the music. Interment will follow the services in Kilgore. 
Joyce was born June 3, 1926, in Crockett, Texas, to Opal and 
Russell Thomasson. She graduated from Crockett High School in 
1943. She graduated from Baylor University in 1946, with a 
bachelor of arts degree. While at Baylor, she was a member and 
president of the Peer Club. After graduation, she taught in 
Crockett and Henderson, teaching chemistry and Spanish for three 
years to students just months younger than she. While in Henderson, 
she met Dan Ballenger, the love of her live. She and Dan married on 
July 15, 1950. Joyce retired to become a homemaker, a job she loved 
and cherished. Joyce was a member of the Coterie Club, the Evergreen 
Garden Club, and the Kilgore Music Club. She took an active role in 
these organizations, hosting members in her home, preparing programs 
and creating floral arrangements. She was also active in the Kilgore 
public schools, which her daughters attended. Joyce and Dan 
faithfully attended the First Christian Church for more than 50 years. 
While Dr. Clayton Worden was the pastor and his wife, Jean was organist, 
Joyce would substitute as the church organist. When the Wordens retired 
in the early 1990s, Joyce volunteered to play the next Sunday. Joyce 
had faithfully volunteered as the organist since that Sunday. She truly 
loved playing and providing special music for the Sunday worship, 
weddings, and funerals. Joyce loved her family and friends. She delighted 
in baking cakes, pies, and especially cookies to share. She filled many 
cookie jars to take to others and never visited a grandchild without a 
jar of his or her favorite cookies. Joyce was preceded in death by her 
parents; and her brother, Dr. Lyle W. Thomasson. Joyce is survived by her 
husband, Dan Ballenger of Kilgore; and her daughters, Brynda and Nancy 
and their families, John and Brynda McNey live in Fort Worth, and Dr. Matt 
and Nancy Roberts live in Crockett. Her grandchildren include John William 
McNey and Katy McNey of Fort Worth, Joseph Roberts of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
and Matt and Joanie Roberts of Dallas. She is survived by numerous 
sisters-in-law; brothers-in-law; nieces; nephews; and special friends. The 
family will receive friends from 6-7:30 p.m. Friday evening, December 29, 
2006, at Rader Funeral Home of Kilgore. Please leave online condolences at 
www.Raderfuneralhome.com.

Published in the Longview News-Journal on 12/29/2006.