Kathryn Rozetta Ball
Kathryn Rozetta Ball
Kathryn Rozetta Ball
November 7, 1919 – April 29, 2013
Oskaloosa | Age: 93
Kathryn passed away, Monday, at Mahaska Health Partnership Hospice Services Serenity House in Oskaloosa at the age of 93 years, 5 months and 22 days.
Kathryn “Kate” R. Ball, was born Kathryn Rozetta Sharp, November 7, 1919, to John William and Lyda May Bloomfield Sharp of Beacon, Iowa. She attended school in Beacon and remembers going to the Canteen in Ottumwa after school with her high school friends. Kate married Robert Day in 1936. They had four children, Margaret Mae Day Foster, Donna Kay Day Bixler, Betty Ray Day and James George Day and lived in Marengo, Iowa. Kate and her four children moved to California in 1952. In 1955, Kate married Bernard Adams and to that union Candy Luceal Adams Kopp was born. In 1963, Kate moved back to Oskaloosa and worked at Mutt and Jeff’s Restaurant. In 1965 she went to work for her brother, James William Sharp, at Leighton Restaurant. She later worked for the Canary Cottage Café until she was hired on May 11, 1966, at Rolscreen Company (Pella Corporation) in Pella. She remained there until her retirement December 22, 1981. After her retirement, Kate volunteered part-time for a few years at Pella Corp. giving tours and later at the museum. “Dancing Kate” is a lifetime member of the Faternal Order of the Eagles and regularly attended dances on Saturday nights well into her 70’s. Since her retirement, Kate traveled all over the Midwest and Western states and spent a number of years renewing old school friendships at the Senior Center in Oskaloosa. In March of 2010, Kate moved from Englenook Apartments to Maple Ridge Assisted Living. In April 2013, she entered the Serenity House where she waited for Jesus to call her home.
The people left to celebrate Kate’s life and tell her stories are: her daughters- Donna (John) Bixler of Oskaloosa; Joanne Peterson Day of Oskaloosa; and Candy Kopp of Woodward, IA; her son-in-law, Charles Foster of Salinas, CA; nine grandchildren: Michael Foster, Jim and John Bixler, Laurie Bixler Valster, Teresa and Jim Day, Bob and Jen Kopp and Cassandra Kopp Meuer; twelve great-grandchildren; seven great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. She loved them all.
“Katie Kathryn”, as her beloved father called her, was preceded in death by her parents; two daughters: Betty Day and Margaret Foster; and a son, James Day; and all of her siblings: Willis Sharp, Lucille Beal, Jim Sharp, Foster Sharp and Betty McCurdy.
Funeral services for Kathryn Ball will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, May 3, 2013, at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa with Pastor Andrea Brownlee of the First Christian Church officiating.
Burial will be in Beacon Cemetery.
Visitation will begin at 11 a.m., Thursday, at the funeral chapel; the family will be present from 5-7 to greet visitors.
Memorials may be made to MHP Hospice Serenity House or the Nelson Pioneer Farm.
