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Cora Anna Ball (1874-1949) was a native and active member of the community of
Fairfield, Iowa. Cora Ball was born to a
farmer and Civil War veteran W. C. Ball and Mary Campbell Ball. She had one brother, Frank
who died at age twelve. Miss Ball was a
graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 1898. She returned to the Fairfield family home
beginning her long and active career as a music instructor.
Miss Ball was a public school music teacher throughout the early 1900s. She was active in state music conferences as
indicated by her attendance at the first Music Supervisors National Conference. Her attendance and membership in the Music
Educators National Conference was periodic from 1927 through 1938. She taught piano and voice at Fairfield's Parsons
College and for a short time taught outside of Iowa at the academy at Washington, and
Huron College, South Dakota. Miss Ball
retired from teaching in 1941, but remained active through editing the college quarterly
alumni publication. Ball was also quite
active in Fairfield's First Presbyterian Church. She
participated in appointing the church organist in 1873.
She was member of the women's group at the church donating time and money. Cora fulfilled her mother's position as a
Fairfield Public Library trustee in 1933 and remained in the position until her death.
The girl's and boys glee clubs of
1912, under the splendid direction of Miss Cora E. Ball, head of the Music Department of
the Fairfield Public Schools have been one of the most successful organizations that the
High School has ever produced.
The try-outs were held soon after
school opened and about thirty girls were chosen and 20 boys. After much strenuous practice the two choruses
made their first public appearance on Feb. 17th. The
work this year has been very successful and a more extensive course will be carried out
next year. Both the girls and boys are
enthusiastic over the work and 1912-13 bids fair to be better than any preceding year.
Fairfield High School Yearbook, 1912, p. 61
The musical training of the Fairfield High School has been kept at a high standard
during the past year. Through the influence
of our instructor, Miss Cora Ball, the "Jane Adams Chorus," consisting of fifty
voices, was organized in the early part of the year.
Early in February, a girl's chorus of twenty voices was selected to take part of
the year. Early in February, a girl's chorus
of twenty voices was selected to take part in the programme at the Southeastern Teachers'
convention held in the new High School in April. New
songs and codas were procured and practice was begun at once. Our instructor showed marked ability in direction
this chorus, the members of which were all willing and able to take advantage of such
instruction. The music for the year was
further enhanced by the band which was made up of ten pieces, and by it the enthusiasm of
the entire school was kept at an extreme pitch during the foot-ball season. The band playing on the "dump" or
leading a procession around the square was a familiar sight during the fall of 1912. Although we are losing a few of the players
through the coming graduation, there are other "tooter" capable of taking their
places for the next year.
Fairfield High School Yearbook,1913,
p. 54.
The Quill, Fairfield High School year book, 1912.
The Quill, Fairfield High School yearbook, 1913
Dill, Freida. Telephone conversation, March 6, 2001. First Presbyterian Secretary.
Fairfield Ledger, Wednesday, October 12, 1949. Obituary: Cora Ball, 75, Music leader, dies at home.
Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920 population.
History of Jefferson County Iowa (1912).
The Peira, Parson College yearbook, 1934
Selz, Paul B. (1990). 150 Years: The First Presbyterian Church, Fairfield, Iowa. [Pamphlet]
Welty, Susan Fulton. (1968). A Fair Field. Detroit, Michigan: Harlo Press.
Special Thanks to
Christine Schiedel, Jean Selz, Carol Jones, and Freida Dill
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Submitted by
Audrey Berger
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