Dr John Albert Campbell Ball (1924-2008)

(Obituary by Bob Stout)
Former Consultant in Geriatric Medicine in Belfast City, Musgrave Park and Lagan Valley Hospitals (b 1924; q Belfast 1953; BSc MD FRCPEd), died from prostate cancer 22 December 2008.

Leaving school during the Second World War, Campbell Ball took a degree in engineering in Queen's University Belfast before joining the Royal Air Force as a commissioned officer and was posted to  the Far East. After the war, he returned to Queen's to study medicine. In 1964 he was appointed a consultant in the Belfast City Hospital, also having beds in Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast and Lagan Valley Hospital, Lisburn. He was responsible for the care of older patients, including home assessment visits, in a catchment area which covered West Belfast and which included some of the most troubled parts of Northern Ireland. He retired in 1984.

Campbell Ball was a warm and friendly person who was popular with colleagues and patients. He was a careful and conscientious physician and also undertook medical management duties as both Chairman of the Division of Medicine and Chairman of the Medical Executive Committee of the Belfast City Hospital. He was a multi talented person with an interest in all things mechanical, and in the arts; in his retirement he took piano lessons. He was a keen sailor and developed a passion for astronomy. Of all his interests, he spoke most fondly of the home he built on Inishbofin, a small island seven miles off the west coast of county Galway. He leaves his wife, Hilda, two sons and a grandson.

 

 

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