Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk March 5 for Father Thomas J. Ballman at St. Anthony Church in Dayton. Father Thomas Shearer was the homilist.

Father Ballman died on March 1 at St. Leonard in Centerville. He was 94 years old.

Father Thomas J. Ballman (CT file photo)

A native of Dayton, Father Ballman did his preparatory studies at St. Gregory Seminary and studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West. He was ordained on April 17, 1943, by Archbishop John T. McNicholas at then-Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Norwood.

Father Ballman received his first assignment as assistant pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Cheviot in 1943. Five years later he was appointed assistant pastor of Emmanuel Parish in Dayton and served as chaplain at Miami Valley Hospital.

From August 1951 through July 1959, Father Ballman served as chaplain of Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton. He served as assistant pastor of then-St. Veronica Parish in Hamilton from 1959 to 1961, while also teaching at Hamilton Catholic High School. In 1961 he was named pastor of Holy Name Parish in Trenton and administrator of St. Lawrence Mission in New Miami.

Father Ballman was named pastor of Our Lady of Good Hope Parish in Miamisburg in August 1966.

In July 1985 Father Ballman became associate pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Dayton. He served there until retirement.

Interment was in Calvary Cemetery in Dayton.