Donald Kent Ballou

Our beloved father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend, Don, at age 90, passed peacefully thru the veil on March 7th, 2018, at St. Josephs Villa in Salt Lake City.
Donald Kent Ballou was born in Newton, Mass, on October 1, 1927 to Cleveland Ariel Ballou and Sophia Frederica Willhelmmina Lins. After attending private schools in the Boston area, he graduated from Phillips Academy and in 1946 enlisted in the Army Aircorp. He served one year on Amchitca in the Alaska Aleutian Islands and then attended and graduated from Tufts College. During this time he met Elisabeth Beckett, while he was playing Stardust on the piano. They married on Jun 17, 1950, in the chapel of the Andover-Newton Theological Seminary. During their honeymoon, the Korean War commenced. Don was in the Air Force Reserve. One year later he was called back to active duty and his wife went to live with his parents. In the spring of 1952, she was able to join him in Sumter, SC, where he was serving at Shaw Air Force Base. When he was released in Sep, 1952, they returned to the Boston area where Don obtained a BSME degree from Tufts College, and Lis gave birth to their first child.
After Don’s graduation, they moved to Conn. He went to work for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft as a mechanical engineer. They had two more children, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1966, the whole family drove to Utah and were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. In 1978, due to years of severe family health problems, Don obtained a transfer in his work from New England to South Florida. Three years after his retirement in 1987, he and his wife were called to serve Family History Missions, first in London and then in Salt Lake City. Towards the end of their mission, they decided to relocate from New England to Salt Lake City where they enjoyed being able to view the LDS Temple from their apartment for many years together, up until her passing in 2014. Throughout his life, Don was actively engaged in a variety of church callings, most recently as Emergency Radio Communicator for his stake, because he was a ham radio operator. His voice could be heard over the airwaves across the state during family road trips as he communicated with other ham radio operators. He was also a very gifted pianist and enjoyed playing weekly at a local senior center, something he loved to do for many years. We are thankful that he was blessed with good health and was able to remain active up to his final days.
Don was preceded in death by his wife, Elisabeth, and his siblings, Arthur, Paul, and Gordon Ballou and is survived by his three daughters, Stephanie Bare, Catherine Grandgent, and Christine Stockelman, two grandchildren, Thomas Grandgent and Suzanne Sammann, and two great grandchildren, Lily and Lochlan Gehring.
The family would like to express deep gratitude to the staff of LDS Hospital, St. Josephs Villa, Symbii Hospice, and to many others who provided loving care to Don during his time of need.
Funeral services will be held at 11 am on Saturday, 17 March, at the LDS Chapel, 142 W 200 N in Salt Lake City. Interment after will be for family only in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 South Highland Drive, Salt Lake City.
Service Information
Viewing March 17, 2018 at 9:30 - 10:45 AM
Salt Lake Stake Center, 142 West 200 North, Salt Lake City, Utah





Funeral Service
March 17, 2018 at 11:00 AM
Salt Lake Stake Center, 142 West 200 North, Salt Lake City, Utah