Dr. Jerry Ball

I was born of Haskell and Thelma Ball in Duncan, Oklahoma, but my earliest memories are in Lawton, where we lived. I started first grade at Wilson Elementary School, and went all the way through the Lawton public schools.

My mother and father got me started every Sunday in church. They taught me the love of God and Jesus Christ, and they loved me themselves as an example. This strong influence colored my whole life.

One of the major influences in my life was the youth fellowship group at Centenary Methodist Church, and its leader, Whit Ozier. During my high school years I felt called to preach.

That call to preach soon led me to First Methodist Church, Madill, Oklahoma where I became their first youth director. It was there I met the love of my life, Oteka Ann Little. The romance didn't really get started until when we were both in college; she was at OU and I was at OCU. She said, “I Do” on September the fifth, 1959.

After graduating from OCU, I attended SMU where I completed the Master of Religion degree, and then went to the Texas Medical Center for a year of clinical internship in pastoral counseling. While in Houston, Oteka Ann gave birth to Jeremy. We returned to Oklahoma where as a member of the Oklahoma Annual Conference of the Methodist Church I was appointed to serve the church in Mustang, Oklahoma.

During that time, I found that my sense of calling was leading me to work in depth with individuals and families.

Attending the University of Oklahoma, I earned a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology, and a PhD in Counseling Psychology. I then went to work in Shawnee as a psychologist in the State Health Department as the Director of the Guidance Center. Then in 1982, I opened a private practice in psychology in Shawnee.

When we moved to Shawnee in 1970, I was soon asked to be the interim teacher for an adult church school class. I taught that class for the last 50 years. I became an informal associate at St Paul's, encouraging the church to grow and to be faithful, and I supported every minister that was appointed to St. Pauls.

When my son Jeremy was in eighth grade, he won a walk-a-thon. The first prize was a yearling Arabian filly. Jeremy took care of that horse himself, but soon went away to St. Stephens School, so I took care of the horse. I got hooked on horses, and loved dealing with the animals. Two years after that, I bought Oteka's dad's two thoroughbred brood mares. We now have a full time horse business that has been very successful.

I was a 40 year member and past President of Shawnee Lion’s Club, and President of the Action Incorporated Community Action Agency Board of Directors for two terms. I was President of the Shawnee Little Theater Board of Directors, and Vice President of Oklahoma State Public Employee Association for one term.

The two years since I was diagnosed with cancer have been some of the best years of my life. I have never felt more loved by God, by my family or by my friends. I’ve realized that God's love reaches out to me every time one of his children, a person, shows me an act of kindness or love. And I realize that's God touching me. And as I touch them back with kindness and love, I'm sharing God with them. It has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.

I am survived by my wife, Oteka Ann, my son Jeremy, my daughter Oteka Lyn, her husband Jon and my grandchildren Caymen and Atticus. Also survived by my brother, Phil, my brother-in-law, Dan Little, and so many friends I can't count them all.

I end this with the celebration of love that God gives to all of us, and the joy he has brought into my life and will continue to bring as I pass from this life to the next.