Tributes paid to Darlaston community stalwart and councillor Olive Ball

Olive Ball served on Darlaston Urban District Council from 1960 to 1967, when the town became part of the Walsall borough.

Mrs Ball, who had lived in Wolverhampton since 1980, died from acute kidney failure at New Cross Hospital. Her daughter Rose Kudlacek was at her side.

Mrs Kudlacek today described her mother as a 'kind and caring lady' and a 'selfless community worker' who would be missed by everyone who knew her.

She said: "She seemed to be doing something all the while for somebody.

"She always thought of other people. Even when she was dying she said, 'It isn't fair for the nurses to spend time with me when there's younger people who need help.'"

Mrs Kudlacek added: "She was a very kind and caring lady.

"She will be sorely missed. She was loved by everybody."

Mrs Ball was born in Darlaston in 1926 and joined the Army at the age of 17, driving trucks and ambulances with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War.

It was while stationed in Tunbridge Wells that she met her husband Ron, who served as a dispatch rider with the Gloucestershire Regiment.

The pair married in 1945 at All Saints Church in Darlaston and went to live in Bath. They later returned to the Midlands and from 1950 to 1980 lived in Bentley, Walsall.

During the 1960s, Mrs Ball was a Sunday school teacher at Emmanuel Church in Bentley. She also sat on the board of governors for Bentley West Primary School, King Charles Primary School and Salisbury Street School – now called Offley County Girls School.

She also founded the Get Together community club in Bentley, which served as a place for retired people to socialise.

And all the while she served her community as a Darlaston councillor.

Mrs Kudlacek said: "When I was a girl there were people in our dining room all the time with problems of one kind or another."

In 1980, Mrs Ball handed over the reigns of her Get Together club and the couple moved to Marlowe Drive in Wednesfield.

Mr Ball, who died in 2009, served as chairman of Darlaston Council. He was also a founder member of the Walsall Church of England Men's Society.

Mrs Kudlacek said: " She was very hardworking and community minded, just like my dad. The two of them together were like a super-team."

Mrs Ball died on May 9, having been ill for five years.

She leaves three children, Rose, Dot and Bob, as well as nine grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Mrs Kudlacek said: "The family would very much like to thank all the staff at New Cross. They were so caring."

Her funeral will be held at the Walsall Christian Centre, Corporation Street West on May 29.