Joan Davis Ball, Beloved Matriarch
Johanna Bernice Davis Ball, of Port Orange, Florida, passed away on January 17, 2026, at the age of 102 and five-sixths, surrounded by her family at the Halifax Hospice Care Center in Ormond Beach, Florida. Joan was a beloved matriarch and lifelong adventurer. She lived a life defined by curiosity, resilience, and an enduring sense of humor that shaped not only her own remarkable journey but the lives of all who knew and loved her.
Joan was born on March 8, 1923, in Balcarres in Saskatchewan, Canada. Joan was the daughter of Robert Emmett Davis and Bernice Carey Roberts and spent her childhood in Wheaton, Illinois. She graduated from Wheaton High School in 1941 and attended Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois.
Joan worked as a hostess, an inflight instructor and as Eastern Supervisor of Hostesses for TWA from 1944 through 1951. While working at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, she met her husband, Edward Charles Ball, who was also working for TWA as the station manager at LaGuardia. Joan and Eddie were married on June 27, 1951, at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in West Orange, New Jersey. Joan and Eddie were blessed with 4 children. The family called Queens, New York; Roslyn, New York; Athens, Greece; Westfield, New Jersey; and Miami, Florida, all home. Joan took pride in traveling the world over with Eddie as he represented Eastern Airlines at numerous overseas meetings. After Eddie died in 1979, Joan went to work at Flagler Federal Savings and Loan. She retired from the bank in 1988 and eventually settled in Port Orange, Florida.
While living in Miami, Joan volunteered as a docent at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Once in Port Orange, she was an active volunteer at the Museum of Arts and Sciences and the Emory L. Bennett State Veterans’ Nursing Home, where she ran a reading circle for the disabled veterans for 18 years. In addition, Joan was a proud member of the Mayflower Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Welcoming Joan into heaven are her parents, Bernice and Robert, her beloved husband, Edward, her brothers Robert and Thomas, and her favorite son-in-law, Philip John Cappio. Cherishing Joan’s memory are her children, Mary Ball Cappio, Edward C. Ball, Jr. (Carla), Robert (Lynne), Thomas (Joyce). Her sister, Mary Jo Haag and her brother, James (Donna). Her beloved grandchildren, Bobby (Kim), Kathleen Learn (Josh), Moria Cappio (Joseph Frederick), Claire Cappio Atkinson (David) Regina Cappio Wilson (Todd), Lindsay Ball, Michael Ball (Taylor),Anna Catherine Ball, Edward Charles Ball III. And her much-loved ten great-grandchildren.
It was observed that the secret to Joan’s long, well-lived life was service, love of family, chai tea lattes, and fierce games of Scrabble.
To learn more about Joan’s adventures in life, her memoir, “The Latitude, Longitude and Attitude of a Life”, is archived in the Library of Congress.
Funeral masses will be held at Our Lady of Hope in Port Orange, Florida on February 2nd at 8:30 a.m. and at the Parish Community of Saint Helen in Westfield, New Jersey, on February 7 at 10 a.m. Burial will be at Saint Teresa Cemetery, Summit, New Jersey In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you find a place to volunteer and make a difference, book that international trip you’ve always dreamed of, and/or treat yourself to a scoop of your favorite ice cream.
