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FRANKLIN – James Elmer Ballance Jr., 76, passed away Dec. 12, 2021 in Sentara Obici Hospital. Born in Kenley, North Carolina, he was a son of the late James E. Ballance and Gladys Cockrell Ballance.

James was a 1964 graduate of Kenly High School in Kenley, North Carolina and a welding supervisor for Newport News Shipyard. He loved the outdoors and fishing above all things.

Left to cherish his memory is two daughters, Denise Ballance of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Amy Walker and her husband, Timothy of Newport News, Virginia; a son, James Timothy Ballance of Newport News; a sister, Geraldine “Tootsie” Woodard of Newport News; two grandchildren, Sarah and Hunter Walker; a niece and nephew, Wendy and Andy Woodard of Newport News; and a first cousin; and his lifelong best friend and “brother,” Joseph Batten and his wife, Brenda and their children, Jeff Batten and Beth Oaks all of Carrollton, Virginia.

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 17 in Wright Funeral Home with the Rev. Dale Coffey officiating. Burial will follow in Mount Horeb Cemetery.

The family will receive friends in the funeral home one hour prior to the service and suggests that in order to honor James, spend a day driving down some back roads with the windows down and your hand in the breeze. Stop at a good fishing hole and catch some dinner and if fish is not to your liking, order a pizza and finish it off with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.

www.wrightfuneralhome.org