Following is the obituary for F. STEPHANIE BALL, submitted for her family by the MacDonald Funeral Home, Marshfield, Mass.

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F. Stephanie Ball (nee Barnak), 86, passed peacefully at home on Aug. 20, 2024, surrounded by her family. 

She was born in Dupont, Pa., to John and Bridget (nee Smichowski) Barnak. Her family moved to Stamford, where Stephanie spent her childhood. She graduated from Mother of God Academy in Stamford in 1955, and studied at Katherine Gibbs in New York City. 

She loved to tell stories of her childhood summers spent with her beloved Babci Barnak in Dupont, where she would play in the woods, swim in the lakes, pick blueberries, and play with her many cousins. She attended Holy Name of Jesus Christ Church in Stamford. 

And when she and her husband and children moved to Westport, they became active members of Saugatuck Congregational Church.

Stephanie’s career began at Time, Inc., where she met and married Robert Ball. They were married in Stamford the day after the huge January 1961 snowstorm that had also dumped large amounts of snow on Kennedy’s presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. 

A year and a half after their wedding, Bob and Steph packed up their dog and 5-month-old daughter and moved across the globe to Tokyo, Japan. They spent the next five years in Japan and expanded their family to five. They returned to the States with three children, a dog and many memories that permeated all aspects of Steph’s long life. 

They moved to Cos Cob, while Bob went to Harvard Business School and then settled the family in Westport, where they raised their children except for a short two-year stint in Wisconsin. She was also a licensed stockbroker for many years. 

Stephanie and Bob were founding members of a longstanding social club in Westport known as the Turkeys. 

She and Bob loved to travel the world for both pleasure and business. Stephanie took great pride in her ability to speak four languages and her knowledge and experiences of the many countries they had visited.

When Bob retired in 1996, they decided Cape Cod was where they would live out their lives. They built a home in Cotuit and settled into a life of golf, bridge with friends, and celebrating the holidays with their children and grandchildren.

Stephanie is survived by her daughter Jacqueline (Richard) Vitaro of Duxbury, Mass.; her son Scott of Cotuit, Mass.; her daughter-in-law Ginger Ball (nee Grace) of Duxbury, Mass., and was “Babci” to her six grandchildren, Katherine, Jack, Bridget, Elizabeth, Caroline and Colin. She also leaves her nieces Lauren Barnak (Wendy Drennan), Alison Barnak (Saverio Lacroce), and Victoria Sommers (Mike) and nephew Greg; grandnieces Hunter, Charlotte and Maeve, and grandnephew Dustin. She was predeceased in death by her husband Robert, son Jeb, an infant son, her parents, brother John Barnak, sister Eleanor Holden and sister-in-law Margaret Ball.

Burial will be private, and a celebration of her life will be held at a later date. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the MacDonald Funeral Home, Marshfield, Mass.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the American Red Cross Ball Family Memorial fundraiser.