By HDN Staff
HAYS Bernadette Irene "Bea" (Firemoon) Ball, Indian name "Prairie Canoe Woman" Wa-do-pa-Kna-Tuwa-wi-ya, 54, died Friday, May 26, 2000 at her home at Fort Belknap Agency from a long battle with multiple sclerosis.
Wake was at St. Paul's Recreation Center in Hays Sunday and Monday and rosary was 7 p.m. Monday. Funeral Mass was at St. Paul's Mission with burial in the Lodgepole Cemetery.
Ball was born May 8, 1946 to Leroy "Chill" Firemoon and Ruby Talks Different Grant at Poplar. She attended school at St. Paul's Mission in Hays. She married Gordon Ball in the 1960s and they divorced. She has lived in Hays, Spokane, Wash., Glasgow, and Fort Belknap.
Ball was a very devoted mother who always kept her family home open to her brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and extended family. She enjoyed beading, sewing, and tending her flower beds. She enjoyed many pastimes, but what she is most remembered for was her welcoming hospitality to all who stopped by for a good conversation and a hot cup of coffee.
Survivors include her mother, Ruby Talks Different Grant; sons, Matt Ball of Fort Belknap and Doug Ball of Denver; daughters, Judy Ball of Denver, Bonita Ball of Fort Belknap, and Martha Fox of Fort Belknap; brothers, Leroy "Jim" Firemoon of Fort Belknap, George Snell, Jr. of Fort Belknap, Doug Snell, Sr. of Fort Belknap, Sherman Talks Different of Frazer, Ted Snell, Sr. of Fort Totten, N.D., and Melvin Firemoon of Minneapolis, Minn.; sisters, Virginia Cochran of Fort Belknap, Mary Ellen Bird In Ground of Fort Totten, N.D., Veronica Firemoon of Poplar, Judy Shields of Poplar, Arleata Snell of Chevak, Alaska, Donna First Raised of Fort Belknap, Margaret Strike of Fort Belknap, and Mary Agnes Black Crow of Hays; 14 grandchildren; numerous aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and special friends.
Adams Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
