Joseph William Ballew

Joseph William Ballew, age 95, of Mt. Vernon, Missouri, passed away at 3:31 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Mt. Vernon. He was born March 25, 1926, in New Franklin, Missouri, the son of Merle and Helen (Pemberton) Ballew.

Jay was a 1944 graduate of Pensacola High School in Pensacola, Florida and was a U.S. Army veteran serving during World War II. After the service he moved to Denver, Colorado, and found a job at the First National Bank as a teller and worked there for seven years. He sold cars for a couple of years and then worked as a supervisor for the Gates Rubber Company in Denver for 15 years, retiring in 1970 and then moved back to Missouri where he went to work for Witt Printing Company in El Dorado Springs, Missouri. It was here he met his wife, Geneva. In 1974 they moved to a farm, and he became a farmer and retired from farming around 2000.

On June 27, 1974, he married Geneva Mae Mahurin, in El Dorado Springs, Missouri.
Jay is survived by his wife of 47 years, Geneva; one sister, Sarah Overstreet of Fayette, Missouri; one son, Del La Bree and his wife, Debra, of La Russell, Missouri.

Jay was preceded in death by his parents, Merle and Helen, one son, Jay Steven Ballew and one sister, Mrytle.

A graveside service, under the direction of the Fossett-Mosher Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon, will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 10, 2021, at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.

Online condolences may be shared at this website.

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