E.L. "Lee" Ballou

Edgar Leland (Lee) Ballou passed away on May 10, 2010 at the age of 94. Lee was born in Storm Lake on December 9, 1915 to Loyal Edgar Ballou, Jr. and Grace (Ambler) Ballou. He graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1933 and was a graduate of the University of Chicago and the graduate school of banking at the University of Wisconsin. On May 15th, 1939, Lee and Bettie Skewis were married. They were blessed with two daughters: Cynthia and Barbara. Lee began his banking career at Security Trust and Savings Bank as a clerk and rose to Chairman of the Board in a career that spanned seventy years. When he retired in 2007, he was one of only three bankers in Iowa with over seventy years of service. Lee was a veteran of World War II, serving as a Lt. JG in the Navy on the USS Shangri-La from 1943-1946 in the Pacific Theatre. During Leeâ€™s lifetime in Storm Lake, he served his family business and community with honesty and integrity. He served on the Board of Trustees of Buena Vista University from 1972 to 1999 and was named a Sir John Templeton Life Trustee. Lee and Bettie supported student scholarships and were major benefactors in the challenge campaign for the Estelle Siebens Science Center. In 2007, he received the Wendell Halverson Outstanding Friend Award. Lee and Bettie greatly enjoyed his term as President of the Iowa Bankers Association in 1965. He was active in various Storm Lake organizations, including over 50 years as a member of the Elks and Kiwanis. He was a long time treasurer of the Storm Lake Community School District and a Trustee of the Lakeside Presbyterian Church. Lee was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Carleton; his wife, Bettie; and his daughter, Cynthia Ballou Brown. He is survived by his sister, Donna Marie Benson; his sister-in-law, Anita (Billy) Rosendahl; his daughter, Barbara and her husband, David Dvergsten; his grandchildren, Elizabeth Lee Koster and her husband, Wayne; Christian David Dvergsten and his wife, Jessica; Benjamin Ballou Dvergsten and his wife Sarah; and Margaret Elizabeth Dvergsten and her fiancÃ©, Nathaniel Kitzrow. His great grandchildren are Jeffrey Ray McWithey, Blaize Robert Koster, Gabriel Lane Dvergsten, Tyler Ballou Dvergsten, Samuel Henry Dvergsten, and Charles Michael Dvergsten.

E.L. "Lee" Ballou

December 9, 1915 - May 10, 2010