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Mel Ballinger
Mel
Ballinger died July 4,
2004, after a courageous
battle with pancreatic
cancer. We will miss him
immensely!
Mel was
born in San Diego,
California. Following
high school and military
service, he attended San
Diego State University.
Mel worked in Saudi
Arabia for eight years,
and upon returning to
the U.S.A., he chose the
Cleveland/Akron area as
home for the past 47
years. Most recently he
was a resident of
Wadsworth, after
retiring as comptroller
of Nowsco Oil of
Wooster, Ohio. Mel was a
veteran of the U.S. Navy
during World War II. He
was a proud and active
participant in Dr. Bob &
Bill W.'s group for over
24 years, as well as
being an active member
of Rotary International.
Then, at the age of 50,
he achieved a lifelong
dream of becoming a
private pilot and was
actively involved in the
Skypark Airport
community.
We knew
Mel as an active
volunteer with the Edwin
Shaw Traumatic Brain
Injury (TBI) Support
Group for many years. In
November 2002, after our
support group returned
from the Brain Injury
Association of Ohio’s
annual conference in
Columbus, where we first
learned about the
clubhouse model, we
decided that we wanted
to develop a clubhouse
in the Akron area. We
voted to name it after
the Ballingers (with
their consent), in
recognition and in honor
of all the volunteer
work Mel and his wife
Maxine had been involved
in at Edwin Shaw
Hospital.
The
mission at the Clubhouse
is to decrease isolation
and increase personal
and spiritual growth of
those affected by brain
injury. Our group, with
Mel and Maxine, was
already doing this prior
to the inception of the
clubhouse. Mel and
Maxine were at all of
our functions, working
and helping in everyway
they could. Mel was
always packing people in
his big SUV, to drive
them wherever they
needed to go. He took
groups to Columbus, to
ballgames, to boat rides
on the Good Time III
docked in Cleveland,
National Parks, picnics,
Halloween parties, and
many other activities.
Mel has
left us with fond
memories of a man who
exercised both his mind
and body, active and
involved in life until
the end.
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