KENNETT BALL
IRVING, TEXAS-Memorial services for Oliver Kennett Ball, 88, of Irving, Texas, formerly of Ada, are 2:00 p.m. Saturday, August 4, 2012 at the First Christian Church in Ada. Dr. Jim Caton will officiate. The family will receive friends following the service at the church.
Mr. Ball died Thursday, July 19, 2012 at his home in Irving. He was born December 6, 1923 in Hennessey, Oklahoma to Oliver Cedric and Hazel Kennett Ball. He attended grade school in Enid, Oklahoma and graduated from Enid High School in 1941. He graduated from Phillips University in Enid in 1949 with a AB in Pre-Med, and later in 1952 received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He served in the U. S. Air Force from November 1942 to October 1945 with overseas duty with the 15th Air Force in Italy.
He married Georgia Maypole on November 8, 1946 in Wichita, Kansas. She preceded him in death on May 22, 2012. Mr. Ball was a Registered Physical Therapist from 1952 until retiring in 1988. He was a Staff Physical Therapist at St. Mary's Hospital in Enid from June 1952 – August 1953; from August 1953 – August 1961, he served as the Coordinator of Okmulgee Rehabilitation Center, Oklahoma State Tech in Okmulgee. In August 1961, he started the first Physical Therapy Department at Valley View Hospital in Ada and served as its Director and Chief Physical Therapist until his retirement in January 1988.
Mr. Ball was a member of the American Physical Therapy Association since 1951; Treasurer of Section on Education of the American Physical Therapy Association from 1967-1968; Past President of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association, 1956-1958; Treasurer of Oklahoma Chapter of Physical Therapy Association, 1958-1960; Committee Chairman of various committees of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association. Mr. Ball was a member of the Ada Lion's Club, the Boy Scouts of America, AMBUCS and the Optimist Club.
Mr. Ball was awarded the Chapter Founders Award in 1982 by the Oklahoma Physical Therapy Association, the Lucy Blair Service Award in 1984 by the Amercian Physical Therapy Association, the Silver Beaver Award in 1986 from the Boy Scouts of America, the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1986 from Washington University School of Medicine, and the National AMBUCS Therapist of the Year in 1995. In 1996 he was inducted into the Harry Miller District Scouter's Hall of Fame, and was presented the Melvin Jones Fellow by the Lion's International Foundation in 2007.
After his retirement, Mr. Ball was a volunteer physical therapist with the Ada High athletic program. He began assisting the football team, later the baseball and track teams, as well as the cheerleaders and Couganns.
Survivors include his daughter, Suzanne Le and her husband Hoang Le of Irving, TX; two granddaughters, Lindsey Ball, Houston, TX, and Morgan Ball, Austin, TX, and their mother, Delane Derr of Houston, TX; a sister, Shirley Hajek and husband Al, Enid; sister-in-law, Nadine Rexroat, Enid; and five nieces, Kathy Kraai, Kim Park, Rose Clampitt, Jan Wells and Jeanne Stewart.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, a son, Steven Ball, and an infant granddaughter, Stephanie Brooke Ball.
The family says those who wish may make memorials to the First Christian Church, 101 E. 13th, Ada, OK 74820.
Obituaries may be viewed and online condolences sent to criswellfh.com.

Criswell Funeral Home, Ada