Clarence Ballard, ‘a big personality,’ dies from coronavirus at age 80

Clarence Ballard, a church deacon and mainstay in Lorain-area radio broadcasting who spent years as a gospel singer, has died. He was 80.

Ballard knew many people through his work at Ford Motor Co. and Greater Victory Christian Ministry in Lorain.

He knew people around the country from traveling with The Ballard Brothers, the gospel quartet that grew to include his sons and a close friend.

“He was a very vibrant guy,” said his son, Mark Ballard, current president of the Lorain City School Board. “At 80, he was more active than most 50-yearolds.

“My dad was a big personality. We opened ourselves up to share our dad with the world. I’m just glad that the world got to peek into the great childhood that I had and to see the kind of man he really was.”

Growing up

Clarence Ballard was born in Pinson, Tenn., and grew up there in a family of sharecroppers.

The family also were local singers.

Upon turning 18 years old, Clarence Ballard followed his older sister, the late Dorothy Ballard Smith, who had moved north to Ohio.

He took a job at Ford, working in the Lorain plant and moving up to become part of management over 46 years.

In 1999, Clarence Ballard retired from the management team at the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake.

Once he was established at Ford, Clarence Ballard helped bring his brothers north.

The Ballard Brothers

On weekends, The Ballard Brothers would the country, singing with his brothers, Ray, Charles and Frank Ballard.

Their friend, Mitchell Thomas, would sing with the group, and Mark Ballard said he accompanied them starting at age 4.

“My dad was my very best friend,” the younger Ballard said. “He was just always my sidekick. He was here before me, but I never had one day of experience without him.”

The family would host concerts at the Lorain Palace Theater.

Labor Day weekend was their homecoming show in Tennessee, and they traveled many other places to perform.

Starting in 1974, Clarence Ballard began working in local radio, first with Sally Ratliff at WLRO in Lorain, then WJTB in Elyria-North Ridgeville.

He stayed there until 2014, when the family started WNZN, the radio station Power 89.1 FM in Lorain.

Clarence Ballard was the head deacon and cofounder of Greater Victory Christian Ministry, 559 Reid Ave.

He and his wife, Barbara, oversaw their church’s food pantry program.

“He was more known for his faith and his Christian beliefs and his church work, more than anything else,” Mark Ballard said.

So much so that Mark Ballard said his friends called him the church boy growing up because the family spent so much time there.

Among the family’s other ventures, Clarence Ballard had several rental properties and a local landscaping company.

COVID-19

As he grew older, the elder Ballard had no major health issues or concerns, Mark Ballard said.

At the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Ballards followed the recommended precautions, staying home, using masks and gloves and hand sanitizer, Mark Ballard said.

But on April 6, Clarence Ballard was sleeping a lot, his son said, recalling the conversation with his mother about it.

“My dad’s never been accused of being lazy,” Mark Ballard said. “He said, ‘I feel lazy.’”

Clarence Ballard went in for hospital care.

Two days later, a nurse told the family he tested positive for COVID-19.

“We never thought COVID would have been the culprit,” Mark Ballard said. “He’s 80, we thought we would just get him checked out to see what’s going on.”

Clarence Ballard returned home under quarantine, but when his blood oxygen level dropped, he returned to the Cleveland Clinic, eventually moving into the intensive care unit at the clinic’s Fairview Hospital.

Doctors prescribed a ventilator to improve his oxygen level, but his condition worsened until he died at 9:31 a.m., May 3.

The family members have never discovered how he came in contact with the novel coronavirus, Mark Ballard said.

Barbara Ballard tested negative for the disease, her son said.

“Eighty years old and this is the first time he’s ever been in the hospital,” Mark Ballard said. “He’s never had any issues. It’s just a mean, mean disease, a mean virus.”

The family will have a small visitation time starting at 2 p.m., May 8.

A private service will take place May 9.

The family expects to leave the church about noon, May 9, and are asking supporters to line Broadway to say a final goodbye, Mark Ballard said.

“We want to send him out as he deserves to be sent out and just tell the world thank you for accepting our love and his love,” the younger Ballard said. “He always felt very loved by this community.”

Clarence Ballard also is survived by his sons, Gregory and Larry.

Carter Funeral Home of Lorain is handling arrangements.

MARK BALLARD Clarence Ballard, 80, of Lorain, was known as a Ford worker, deacon, radio broadcaster and gospel singer who traveled the country. He died of COVID-19on May 3, 2020, at the age of 80, said his son, Mark Ballard.

THE MORNING JOURNAL FILE Betty J. Halliburton, Clarence Ballard, Jerome Williams and Mark Ballard stand in one of the production studios at 1505 Kansas Ave. developed for WNZN Power 89.1 FM radio station in October 2014. Clarence Ballard died of COVID-19on May 3at the age of 80, Mark Ballard said.

THE MORNING JOURNAL FILE Clarence Ballard, then 77, of Lorain unloads sacks of cabbage in the kitchen of Greater Victory Christian Ministries Church in 2017.