Rev. Bill Ballou, age 85, of Jefferson, passed away Wednesday evening, June 15, 2011 at Ashe Assisted Living Center and Memory Care. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 2:00pm at Boone Family Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. David Blackburn and Rev. Steve Goss officiating. The body will lie in state two hours prior to the funeral service. Burial will follow in the Ashelawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery with military rites. The family will receive friends from 6:00-9:00pm on Friday, June 17, 2011 at Boone Family Funeral Home Chapel. Rev. Ballou was born in West Virginia on Thursday, January 6, 1926 to the late Ward and Bertha Austin Ballou. He served in the United States Army, where he was taken Prisoner of War for four months during World War II. He served as a minister for over forty years and during that time he served as Director of the Ashe Baptist Association. He held that position for 22 years. Bill will be remembered for his caring ministry and gospel singing. He was also preceded in death by a sister-in-law, Zell Reed Ballou. He is survived by his wife, Opal Lyalls Ballou, of 65 years of marriage; two daughters, Sylvia Bower and husband, Tom of Tyrone, Georgia and Sheila Laws and husband, Bruce, of Jefferson; two sons, Larry Ballou and wife, Diane, of Jefferson and Lanny Ballou and wife, Betty, of Jefferson; one brother, James Ballou, of Kannapolis, NC; one sister, Lucille Hagin and husband, Aaron, of Jefferson; seven grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews also survive. The family will be meeting at the home of Sheila Laws at 176 Willow Creek Drive in Jefferson.