Jean Mary Stokley Ball, 87, of DeFuniak Springs, Florida joined her heavenly Father on Friday, August 18, 2017. She spent her final weeks in Virginia where she was able to enjoy visits from children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Jean had many titles: Mom, Grandma, GeeGee, and Lady (though “Lady” was sure to get her Irish up).

Jean was born in Orange, New Jersey to the late Gerard Henry Stokley, Sr. and Mary Margaret Callahan Stokley on March 18, 1930. She was the elder of two children. Jean graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, New Jersey in 1948 and valiantly returned to her academics at Northern Virginia Community College as a non-traditional student where she received an associate’s degree in the 70s. As she would say, she was married to the love of her life, her high school sweetheart, best friend, and sole boyfriend Thomas Robert Ball, Sr. on February 4, 1950. After 58 years of marriage, he preceded her in death in 2008.

Jean was an avid reader and enjoyed the performing arts and traveling. She was always on the go, participating in many activities, including the DeFuniak Springs book club, Red Hats, and seniors' group; St. Margaret’s Thursday Night Supper Club, choir, and Ladies in Council; and much, much more. She loved visiting her family in Virginia and Texas and then sharing with her friends in Florida the details of where she had been and what she had done. In the 60s, before special needs children like her daughter Cathy were admitted to public school, Jean was involved with the founding of The Didlake School in Manassas, Virginia—a private school for children with disabilities.

Jean leaves behind many wonderful neighbors in DeFuniak Springs, including her kind caregiver Julie Elio, and her church family at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church where she was a steadfast parishioner and Eucharistic Minister.

Jean was a devoted mother to her seven children. And she was very proud of her 19 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. At a large family gathering some years ago, she surveyed the crowd, and she said to her husband, “Look what we started.”

She is survived by her only brother Gerard Henry Stokley, Jr. of Weatherford, Texas and his wife Jo Lynn; daughter Linda and son-in-law Robert Newlon; daughter-in-law Kirsten van Steenberg Ball and her six children Rachel, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Aaron, Hannah, and Madeleine; daughter Karen, son-in-law Michael Bobbitt, and their two children Ian and Jennifer; daughter Jeanne, son-in-law Harry Foster, and their three children Elliott, Lance, and Hannah; son Douglas, daughter-in-law Sherrie, and their three children Justin, Brennan, and Jessica; daughter Mary, son-in-law Charles Bass, and their four children Christopher, Monica, Samantha, and Taylor. She was preceded in death by her husband Thomas Robert Ball, Sr., her son Thomas Robert Ball, Jr., her daughter Catherine Ann Ball, and her grandson Robert Steven Newlon, Jr.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, August 27, 2017 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. at the Baker-Post Funeral Home & Cremation Center, 10001 Nokesville Road, Manassas. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Monday, August 28, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at All Saints Catholic Church, 9300 Stonewall Road, Manassas. Rev Noah Morey will be the celebrant.

Interment will immediately follow in Stonewall Memory Gardens, Manassas, VA.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

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