Charles D. Ballard
Born: February 4th, 1936
Died: October 12th, 1975
Obituary
Charles Dennis Ballard, 39, of 1329 NW Fourth St., Cedar Rapids, died in Cedar Rapids Sunday, Oct. 12, as the result of a motorcycle accident.
Mr. Ballard was born in Missouri Feb 4, 1936, the son of Clifford and Florence Core Ballard. He was a US Air Force veteran and was a printer with Highway Equipment Co. of Cedar Rapids.
Mr. Ballard was a member of the United Methodist church and Chosen Few Motorcycle club.
Surviving; two daughters, Sandra Lyn, Cedar Rapids, and Valli Jean, Sedalia, Mo.; his step=mother, Lucille Ballard, Berryville, Ark.; two brothers, Roger, Morgan City, La., and Clarence, Burlington; and three sisters, Shirley Berges, Patricia Fellows, and Ann Lohman, all of Burlington.
Funeral: 1:30 Thursday, Prugh’s chapel, Rev. Laurence L. Garrett; Aspen Grove cemetery.
From The Burlington Hawk-Eye;
Members of four motorcycle clubs came to Burlington Thursday, but no holiday mood accompanied them. They were here to bury a friend.
Several hundred motorcyclists, their wives, and girlfriends began gathering at noon at the Fifth Wheel tavern on Washington prior to the memorial services at Prugh’s Chapel.
Their stay in town was brief. Six Burlington police officers were assigned to escort the estimated 60 motorcycles to Aspen Grove cemetery in a traditional “biker’s funeral”. By 3 pm most of the bikers had left for home. An honor guard of policemen saluted Ballard’s flag-draped casket as pallbearers wearing the club’s colors emerged from the chapel.
Burlington Chosen Few chapter president Art Drinkall described Ballard as a “beautiful person. I never heard a bad word about him There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for a fellow member”.
Drinkall said the biker’s funeral, during which pallbearers and members ride cycles, is an honor given to anyone who has ever worn the club’s “colors”.
The Chosen Few was organized in Cedar Rapids six years ago, and Ballard was one of its founders, Drinkall said.