That’s when Ballard added shoes to the items available at the clothing depot.
Then there was a Middletown woman who every time she patronized the depot, she changed out of her dirty clothes into a new outfit, then left her clothes behind in the dressing room. Ballard took the woman’s clothes home, washed them, and had them folded when the woman returned.
“It was just this calling she had,” said Tricia Rich, one of Ballard’s three children. “God touched her and said, ‘This is what you need to do.’”
Ballard, who retired from the depot in 2014, died March 13. She was 91.
Another time in the dead of winter, Rich said, a woman brought a baby wearing only a onesie into the clothing depot. Ballard quickly wrapped the baby in a quilt until his skin color returned.
“Now I have another purpose,” Ballard once said.
She made thousands of quilts and donated them to local families who patronized the depot, her daughter said.
“She was constantly taking care of her clients,” Rich said. “Charity begins at home. She was taking care of those at home.”
In 1974, Ballard attended a Church Women United meeting at a Middletown church, and was told the clothing depot needed a director.
“I can do that,” she told the other members. She volunteered thousands of hours and even opened her barn to the depot when no church was available.
The depot opened on April 15, 1969, in the old Doty House on Curtis Street, and through the years, it has been located at First Christian Church on First Avenue; Ballard’s barn; Family Service of Middletown on Central Avenue; and Church of the Ascension-Episcopal.
Besides Rich, Ballard is survived by children, Linda Griffith and Larry Johnson; six grandchildren, Lori Griffith, Carla Johnson, Curtis Johnson, Salena Hall, Olivia Rich and Clyde Rich; great-granddaughter, Ayreonna; and numerous step-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held earlier this week.
About the Author
