Information provided by Ann Gordon, neice of Mollie Ballard, on March 7, 2001:

Mollie Belle DePriest
My beloved Aunt Mollie Belle was a wonderful person.  Her family was her priority and she tended them well.  Aunt Mollie Belle
was a stable, matter-of-fact type person who had a way of making one feel secure in her presence.  She was a superb cook,
using only the freshest ingredients.  I remember seeing her buy green beans for 5 or 6 people and choosing each bean
one-by-one. She loved to fish.  She was very proud of her sons and her grandchildren.  My Aunt Mollie Belle was the kind of
person you "came home to" and was always welcomed.

John Kelly Ballard
My beloved Uncle John Kelly was one of the most thoughtful people I have ever known.  He was gregarious, always had a good
word, and seemed always to be energetic in body and spirit.  He loved his wife and sons and watched over his father.  Uncle
John would rather have been fishing than anything else.  I remember them taking me fishing at night at Bilah(sp) Lake in
Columbus.  There was an artesian spring with one large rusty pipe pouring out the best water in the world.  Aunt Mollie Bell
was a serious fisher and one could hear Uncle John singing from the boat in the middle of the lake.  He died of liver cancer and
on his death bed was expressing concern for the tiredness of his family.

Claude Allen Ballard
Cousin Claude  was the "caregiver" in the family and was so very good to his parents.  Judging by his treatment of me during
my visits, he would loved to have been Santa Claus!  Claude had a super sense of humor.  Claude was never married and lived
with and cared for his Mother until her death.  He died four years after.

Richard Douglas Ballard
Cousin Richard  was the impish, twinkling son of his father.  He seemed to have many of the same characteristics of John
Kelly.  Claude and Richard were close.  Richard married Vera (Sively)? and they had two children, Douglas and Melinda.  I
never met Doug or Melinda in person.  I know that Douglas and his wife had a baby because Aunt Mollie Belle sent us some
snapshots.  Unfortunately, I do not know his wife's name nor the child's name.  I believe Vera was from somewhere in TN.

Claude Allen Ballard (never married; died at age 62 in 1988 living in Columbus, Lowndes County, Mississippi)

Richard Douglas Ballard (md. Vera Sively and had two children; he died in Fredricksburg, Virginia in 1997 at the age of 68)