Bessie Ball, retired public relations executive, dies at 93 | Obituaries
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Bessie “Bess” W. Ball, an entrepreneur and former director of public relations for the Health Service Plan of Pennsylvania, died on Sunday, April 23, 2023. She was 93.
She was born on Jan. 30, 1930, in Hemingway, South Carolina, to the late Abram and Bertha Thomas Woodbury.
She was raised in Marion, South Carolina, and attended college in Atlanta and in Durham, North Carolina. She then moved to Philadelphia to marry Richard A. Ball. From this union came two children.
Ball graduated with a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University and attended Temple University Graduate School. She graduated from the Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism.
She began working as a dressmaker while still a college student and a substitute teacher for the Philadelphia School District. She began her communications career at the Philadelphia Gas Works as an assistant director of consumer information services.
“She was our only one, our maternal aunt, and never could there be one better,” her niece Luonne Abram Rouse said in a tribute. “For Bess was not just a relative; she was a second mother, a go-getter.”
She later joined Campbell Soup as a supervisor of radio and television publicity, then joined the Health Service Plan of Pennsylvania as director of public relations.
Ball became president of BG&R Associates, where she spearheaded a $2.2 million grant for the town of Atlantic Beach, South Carolina, and increased the municipality’s tourist trade by 40%. BG&R Associates’ public service announcements produced for the School District of Philadelphia won the 1986 Award of Excellence and the Gold Medallion Award from the National School Public Relations Association.
She was also the co-publisher and editor of the Tri-State Minority Yellow Pages, a directory of women- and minority-owned businesses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
She retired in 2007 as president of BG&R Associates and Tri-State Minority Yellow Pages, Inc.
Ball received many awards, including the Black New Jersey Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Cigna/Power 99 “Sistas” Award for Excellence in Business, the Philadelphia Congress of the National Political Congress of Black Women Award for Outstanding Achievement in Communications in the Philadelphia area, the Pennsylvania Women’s Business Shining Stars Award, and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (Pennsylvania Chapter) 1995 Madame C.J. Walker Award. In 1998, she was named a member of the African American Legends Hall of Fame.
“She was an integral part of the Delaware Valley and tri-state region for more than 50 years,” her daughter Gay said in a tribute. ”Her professional and civic impact leaves an indelible legacy.”
She shared her expertise as a member and board representative of many organizations, including the Experiment in International Living, the Cobbs Creek Skate House in the Park, and American Women in Radio and Television, where she was chapter president.
She loved traveling the world, relaxing on the beach, playing golf, catching Broadway show productions, listening to music, sewing and spending time with family and friends. In 2021, she moved to Boynton Beach, Florida, to reside with her daughter and son-in-law.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Allen Ball, and her sister, Lula Alberta Rouse.
In addition to her daughter and niece, she is survived by her son, Richard A. Ball II (Deborah); granddaughter, Aja Bradley; step-grandsons, Ramiah J. Brown, Namil A. Brown and Nehemiah M. Brown; great-grandchildren, Jayden Bradley and Jayla Holloman; brother, Aubrey Dale Barnes; and other family members and friends.
Services will be held on May 12 at Jerusalem A.M.E. Church in Hemingway, South Carolina.
Services begin at 11 a.m.
Palm Beach Memorial Funeral Home handled the arrangements.
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