Ethel (Breitling Baumbach) Ball

A Funeral Service for Ethel (Breitling Baumbach) Ball will be held on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. at the St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Bertrand, Nebraska, with Pastor Kenton Birtell officiating.  Interment will follow at the Highland Cemetery at Bertrand.

Ethel Margaret Ball, 104 years and seven months of age, of Bertrand, died on Saturday, March 19, 2022, at the Bertrand Nursing Home.  Ethel was born on August 17, 1917, in Red Willow County, Nebraska, near the Ash Creek area, south of McCook, Nebraska, the eldest of two children, born to August G. and Clara R. (Baumback) Breitling.  Ethel attend a country school near Stratton, Nebraska, until the 8 ^th grade.

On July 1, 1934, was united in marriage to Kenneth Floyd Ball in Akron, Colorado, and they moved to a farm outside of Culbertson, Nebraska. With a family of four, they moved to a farm northwest of Bertrand in 1943.  For the next 25 years, Ethel made a home for their seven children.  Once the children were all school aged, Ethel began working at Becton Dickinson for 16 years, until her retirement in 1982. In 1993, she was preceded in death by Kenneth.

Ethel loved quilting, making many quilts for her family through the years. She was skilled in oil painting and enjoyed making all sorts of crafts. Ethel loved to play the piano, enjoyed cooking and gardening; and was an avid reader, but most of all, treasured all the times spent with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Ethel was preceded in death by her parents, August and Clara Breitling; father-in-law and mother-in-law, David and Ammie Ball; her husband, Kenneth in 1993; one daughter, Shirley Forster; one son, Gary Ball; her sister, Opal Riggs and husband, Robert; son-in-law, Gary "Boomer" Johnson; and three grandsons:  Boyd Forster, Loren Ball, and Craig Forster.

Ethel is survived by:  three daughters:  Sharon D. Johnson of Holdrege; Sheila Seyfried of Bertrand; and Shelly Ball of Boise, Idaho; two sons:  Norman Ball and his wife, Edilia of Tucson, Arizona; and Richard Ball and his wife, Lisa of Lincoln, Nebraska; one daughter-in-law, Nora Ball of Columbus, Nebraska; 14 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; 19 great-great-grandchildren; two nephews; one niece; and many other extended relatives.

A Visitation will be held on Friday, March 25, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege, with the family greeting from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

A memorial has been established in Ethel's honor and kindly suggested to the Nebraska Prairie Museum; or to the Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church – Food Pantry.

Expressions of caring and kindness can be sent to the family at www.nelsonbauerfh.com

The Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege is in charge of the arrangements.