Deloris Ann Ball passed away peacefully on July 22, 2022 in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
Deloris was born in November 1936 in Clinton, Oklahoma to Gustav and Anna Nickel. She grew up in a large farm family with four brothers and one sister. She graduated from Clinton High School in 1955. She chose the medical field as a career by becoming an LPN. She retired from Baptist Medical Center in 2001.
She married Phillip “P.J.” Ball on April 20, 1974. During their marriage they loved to go fishing, to spend time with family and friends, and to travel. They lived in the country of Oman for several years until P.J. retired. Afterwards, they made their home in Corpus Christie, Texas—where the fishing was good—until March 2008 when P.J. passed away. Deloris then moved to Chickasha, Oklahoma to be near her daughter and grandchildren.
Deloris loved people. She was kind, patient, slow to anger and very humble. Her good nature and sense of humor drew many friends to her. Her desire to serve others was not limited to medicine, but also poured out into the world as she volunteered teaching adults how to read in her spare time. She truly had a life well lived.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband P.J., also by her brothers Gene, Willard, and Victor Nickel and her sister Della Smith and one great-granddaughter, Taylor Haney.
She is survived by her brother Elwood Nickel and his wife Susie of Yukon; her daughter Becky Miller of Norman; grandsons Terry Haney and his wife Annie of Bridge Creek, Jason Miller of Moore; granddaughter Kelli Gunter and her husband Larry of Wilson; eight great-grandchildren McKinzee, John and Larissa Gunter, Montana and Tanner Haney, and Hailey, Landon and Sadie Miller as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
Her cremains will be interred beside P.J. at the Fort Sill National Cemetery and no services are planned at this time. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Ferguson Funeral Home.