Ball, Ann 1944– (Ann E. Bolton Ball)

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Ball, Ann 1944– (Ann E. Bolton Ball)

PERSONAL:

Born May 13, 1944, in Dallas, TX; daughter of Julian Henry (a utility company public relations representative) and Ora Louise (a teacher) Bolton; married Eldon Ray Ball (a journalist), 1964 (divorced, 1981); children: Joanna, Samuel, Raul Quintero (foster son). Ethnicity: "Anglo." Education: Attended Lon Morris Junior College, 1962-63, and University of Texas at Austin, 1962-64; University of Houston, B.S.Ed., 1973. Politics: Republican. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, herb gardening, crafts.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Houston, TX. Office—All State Guard Service, Inc., P.O. Box 7449, Houston, TX 77248-7449; fax: 713-721-2788. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Teacher in parochial and public elementary, middle, and high schools in Texas and California, 1964-78; Marian Christian High School, Houston, TX, teacher, 1980-85; Security Guard Services, Houston, private investigator, 1981; M. Herman and Associates, Houston, private investigator, 1981; All State Guard Service, Inc., Houston, president and owner, 1981—. Basilian Fathers Missions, volunteer.

MEMBER:

Association of Security Services and Investigators of the State of Texas (state secretary, 1984-88; Houston president, 1997-99).

WRITINGS:

Modern Saints, Their Lives and Faces, Tan Books (Rockford, IL), 1983.

A Litany of Mary, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1988.

Heroes of God: A Coloring Book for Children, Regina Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Modern Saints, Their Lives and Faces, Book II, Tan Books (Rockford, IL), 1990.

The Holy Names of Jesus, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1990.

The Persecuted Church, Magnificat Press (Avon, NJ), 1990.

Handbook of Catholic Sacramentals, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1991.

A Litany of Saints, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1993.

Catholic Traditions in Cooking, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1993.

Catholic Book of the Dead, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1995.

Blessed Miguel Pro: 20th Century Mexican Martyr, Tan Books (Rockford, IL), 1996.

Catholic Traditions in Crafts, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1997.

Catholic Traditions in the Garden, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1998.

Faces of Holiness: Modern Saints in Photos and Words, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 1998.

A Saint for Your Name: Saints for Boys, revision of the work by Albert Nevins, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2000.

A Saint for Your Name: Saints for Girls, revision of the work by Albert Nevins, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2000.

Faces of Holiness: Modern Saints in Photos and Words, Volume 2, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2001.

The Saints Guide to Joy that Never Fades, Servant Publications (Ann Arbor, MI), 2001.

(Coauthor) Prayers for Prisoners, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2002.

Jose Finds the King: A Blessed Miguel Pro Story, Ecce Homo Press (Elletsville, IN), 2002.

Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotion and Practices, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2003.

(With Kevin Davidson and Julianne Will) Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia for Children, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2003.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! (bilingual), New Hope Publishing (New Hope, KY), 2003.

Young Faces of Holiness: Modern Saints in Photos and Words, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2004.

(With Brother Placid Stuckyenschneider) Stations of the Cross, Stations of Light, illustrated by Stuckyenschneider, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2004.

The Other Faces of Mary: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures of the Holy Virgin around the World, Crossroad Publishing (New York, NY), 2004.

Catholic Traditions in the Home and Classroom: 365 Days to Celebrate a Catholic Year, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2005.

The How-to Book of Sacramentals: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2005.

(With Damian Hinojosa) The Holy Infant Jesus: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures of the Hold Child around the World, Crossroad Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Leon Hutton) Champion of the Church: The Life and Legacy of Archbishop John Francis Noll, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2006.

(With Kevin Davidson and Julianne Will) Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Bible for Children, Our Sunday Visitor Press (Huntington, IN), 2006.

Columnist for Catholic Heritage, 1991—. Contributor to periodicals, including Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic Digest, Catholic Parent, Christian Beginnings, Today's Catholic Teacher, Texas Law Enforcement Monthly, and The Blues. Editor, A.S.S.I.S.T. Update, 1992—.

Modern Saints, Their Lives and Faces and Modern Saints, Their Lives and Faces, Book II have been translated into Polish.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ann Ball once told CA: "Curiosity may kill the cat, but it sometimes fills the cash box. I'd like to say I write because of some esoteric or high-minded motive, but I have to admit the work greatly improves the cash flow. A single mom with two children in Catholic schools can rarely get by on a single job, and my writing helped support a number of nasty habits like eating and paying the house note. Besides, at heart I'm basically a curious person. That's the same way I got into the security field; when teaching and writing still weren't enough, I wound up with a third job as a private investigator, too. I'm not only excessively curious, but also just flat nosy!

"My first book was a hobby that got out of hand. I once showed a photograph of St. Therese Lisieux to a group of students and was stunned at their reaction. They couldn't accept the wan, sick girl in the wheelchair; saints were pretty plaster statues in church. When I discovered that many Catholic adults had the same idea, I started collecting photos of modern saints. One day in the midst of a pile of saintly countenances scattered about the dining room floor, I decided my picture collection should get published. The publisher wouldn't do that unless I wrote something about them, so I did.

"As an adult convert, I was curious about a lot of the strange-seeming Catholic customs. All of my books published by Our Sunday Visitor Press stem from my curiosity about the church; if I keep writing a book every two years or so, I figure by the time I'm ninety I might really know a little about my religion.

"To be honest, I always was a writer. I remember getting up in the middle of the night as a child to scribble down a poem or story. To my horror and my children's amusement, at my mother's death we discovered a rather large puddle of this early work going back to about the age of eight. Ouch!

"I still love poetry and it's not unusual for me to be hammering out a poem at three or four in the morning. These are written because they are inside of me demanding to get out and frankly they pick some pretty screwy times to call for release. The poems, written for friends and loved ones, are never offered for publication; I couldn't afford the expensive books that will publish them for free, anyway.

"As an idealistic journalism student at the University of Texas in the '60s, I had happy notions of being a Pulitzer Prize-winning world correspondent. Didn't happen. Got an Mrs. instead of a B.J. and a twenty-year break from writing.

"What would I tell aspiring young writers? If you want to write, then write. Study the market and develop the ability to slash up your own work so the editor doesn't have to work so hard. Most of all, never give up. I was inspired by the story of the famous writer who decided that he would write and submit things so fast that the editors couldn't possibly reject them all. I still have every rejection slip I ever received, and one day I really will paper the bathroom with them. If you want to be a writer, don't give up! I know. I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt."