Molly Ann Ballou

Molly Ballou was born on March 10,1928 in the Glendale Research Hospital which is now Seventh Day Adventist Hospital. Her mother was Catherine Mary Kellerman, her father was Sol Andrew Rehart and had two brothers Owen Emery Rehart and Michael (Bud) Andrew Rehart who were nine and ten years older than Molly. When she was six weeks old her family moved in with her grandmother Mollie Rehart in Los Angeles. When she was one and a half her mother went to work for the Los Angeles County Tax Office where she retired from thirty-four years later. Molly's father was killed when hit by a car on January 17,1937. Molly's mother was born in Washington State August 20,1893 and passed away July 8,1985 in Hemet. Her brother Bud had an accident Hang Gliding in June 11982 and passed away due to the accident in September 1985.

From the time she started school she spent many school vacations in Big Bear with her Aunt Anna Scott. In the summer after her father pawed away she spent the summer and the rest of the school year in Big Bear. She was in the fourth grade. The school consisted of three rooms and held first thru eighth grades. Today this is the Big Bear Elks Lodge. Uncle Scotty retired and Aunt Anna moved to Los Angeles area at the end of the school year in 1938.

In February 1942 her mother married Clarence T. (Bill) Sproull and moved to Muirfield Road in Los Angeles.. She attended school in Los Angeles and graduated from Los Angeles High School in June 1946. While a student at L.A. High she joined a social club named the High-Brows and became acquainted with Gera Jane Culton. During her junior and senior years she made many trips with the Culton Family to their ranch in Sage and also to Idyllwild with the High-Brow Club. She met her good friend Joan Bowers Peterson in Idyllwild and when she graduated for Hemet High School in 1947 we lived together and worked in Idyllwild that summer and fall. She moved in with us until we were both married in 1950.

I met Bill Reynolds shortly after his discharge from the service. He served six years in the Navy and had spent most of WWII on the worlds largest floating dry-dock known as the ABSD2 in the South Pacific at the Admiralty Islands. On January 12,1950 I married William (Bill( Robert Reynolds. They bought a home in Whittier. Bill was in the Navy Reserve and in June 1950 the Korean War began so he was recalled and discharged in February 1952. In March 1955 they bought a house in Norwalk. She had two children, Patrick Reynolds in 1952 and Diane Reynolds in 1955. Bill passed away on August 6,1962 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Culton Families opened their homes in Hemet to her and her two children shortly after Bill's death because the felt these kids needed some country living. In November 1962Gera Culton Anderson was widowed, so her two older brothers tokk both families under their wing. Bill and Molly had built a pleasure boat named the Flatlander and when Bill passed away she wanted the boat in A-1 shape. Edwin Cultor suggested she take it to Ken's Boat Repair in Hemet which she did in 1963. She and Ken would go boating and skiing.

On January 13,1964 Ken and Molly were married. They moved into the house on Park Ave which Ken's dad Earl built in 1937. She moved Pat and Diane to Hemet where they both graduated from Hemet High School. Ken had two children by his previous wife Eleanor Thacker Ballou, Claudia Ballou (Luther) and Roy (Skip) Earl Ballou. Claudia completed High School and attended college in Redding Ca. Skip graduated from Chico High School. After Skip graduated he moved to Hemet and lived with Ken and Molly until he married Lorie Cox Ballou. .They had two daughters Heather and Melissa and they divorced. Skip married Sherry Yokum and they had two children Jeremy and Kristine(Kristy).Claudia married Jim Luther and had four children. Ken also served in the Navy during WWII. The ship he was stationed on was the USS Pinkney APH2 and they coaverde many of the South Pacific campaigns. Mostly island invasions and the conclusion of the war he made a final tour of Japan just prior to being discharged. Ken was born August 27,1921 and passed away on February 17,1983 at Pettis Veterans Hospital in Loma Lind and is buried in the San Jacinto Valley Cemetery. Both of her brothers Owen and Bud served in the Navy and cousin Charles Scotty) Scott served in the South Pacific in the Cee-Bees and cousin George A Scott was a Captain in the Tank Corp. He was in the invasion of Europe on D-Day. He was shot and killed by a sniper two days prior to the end of the European Theater.

She worked in the Boat Shop with Ken doing book work, parts control, and she had her Mercury Mechanics Certificate. They became involved with boat racing and got the fever and wanted to race. They had a hydro-boat built and named her the Molly Bee. They were fortunate to get Mercury Factory support for engines and her brother Bud was a machinist. He owned a shop and built may special parts for the boat. This boat and racing scene became a family adventure. She finally learned to drive the boat and in 1971 and 1972 became the first woman to go over 100mph in an outboard powered boat.

In the fall of 1973 we started the K-M's Tree Farm. On Christmas Day Ken had a cardiac arrest but was able to recover. He went back to work in the boat shop and continued working on the Christmas Tee Farm. She continued with the assistance of her friend Kay Starr growing and selling trees. She had a lot of help from family and friends in the sale of Christmas trees.

Through the years she has gone by many names: Mary Ann Rehart, Molly ann Rehart, Mollie Ann Rehart, Molly A. Rehart, a slight chance of the last name being Sproull because of her step-father. Mary Ann Reynolds, Molly Ann Reynolds, Mollie ann Reynolds, Molly A Reynolds, Molly Reynolds, Mrs. William Robert Reynolds, Mrs William R. Reynolds, and Mrs. W.R.Reynolds. Molly Ann Ballou, Molly A. Ballou, Molly Ballou, Mrs. Kenneth Earl Ballou, Mrs. Kenneth E. Ballou, Mrs. K. E. Ballou, and Mrs. Ken. Her mother named her Mary Ann Rehart on her birth certificate but never called by that name. fWhen Bill passed away in 1962 she legally changed her name to Molly Ann.

Just prior to her death Molly continued to live in the house that Earl Ballou built in 1937. She will be buried in San Jacinto Cemetery with her late husband Ken.