Vassa Avonnell Ballou

Avonnell Bolton Ballou, 74, passed away on Thursday, August 1, 2013. The family will receive Tyler-area friends on Sunday, August 4, 2013, from 3:30 to 5:00 PM at Stewart Family Funeral Home. The memorial service, under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home, will be at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, August 5, 2013 in the chapel at First Baptist Church, Shreveport, Louisiana . The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service in the parlor. A family graveside and interment service will follow at Shreveport’s Forest Park cemetery. Avonnell was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, July 30, 1939. She graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport in 1957, and then received her Bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Baylor University, Waco, Texas, in 1961. Following her graduation from Baylor University, she married William E. (Bill) Ballou on June 25, 1961. A gifted and highly recognized educator, Avonnell touched the lives of countless numbers of children. She taught elementary-aged children both in public schools and in Baptist Sunday schools and Vacation Bible Schools. In both the Amarillo, Texas, ISD, and the Abilene, Texas, ISD, she received Master Teacher recognition. Following the nomination from one of her students in Abilene, she received the Teacher Tribute award in 2003. In recognition of her master teaching skills, she was enlisted on numerous occasions to lead conferences in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas for other teachers, helping them to advance their own personal teaching techniques. Her teaching experiences began early in her life as she and her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Thompson, organized Vacation Bible Schools in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s for children in Bossier City, Louisiana. Avonnell continued teaching the Bible to young children throughout her student days at Baylor University as she participated in the weekly Friday night missions program. Avonnell accepted Christ as her personal savior at the age of nine, and with the encouragement of her parents and grandmother, she developed a passion for sharing the love of Jesus with young children. When she was a high school student, she felt the Lord calling her into full-time mission service. Rather than going to an overseas mission field, she married a young man who had been called to the ministry, and together they ministered to and through Baptist churches in Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia. Avonnell was predeceased by her paternal grandparents, the Rev. George and Mary Bolton of Shreveport, and her maternal grandparents, Vassa and Mary Thompson of Bossier City. Also preceding her in death were her parents, Otho George and Winona Thompson Bolton of Shreveport; her sister, Mary Ann Bolton Herndon of Shreveport; and her brother, O. G. (Buddy) Bolton, Jr. of Bossier City. She is survived by her husband, William E. (Bill) Ballou of Tyler; daughter Betsy Ballou of Newton, MS.; and son Will Bolton Ballou and wife Leigh Ann of Meridian, MS. Her four grandchildren are William Hayden Thrasher of Newton, MS and Mary Webb Ballou, Charlie Ballou, and George Ballou, all of Meridian, MS. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial gifts be made to Truett Theological Seminary or The School of Education, Baylor University, One Bear Place 97026, Waco, Texas 76798.

Vassa Avonnell Ballou

July 30, 1939 - August 1, 2013