Hi my name is Janine, I am Carol's middle daughter.  Thank you all so much for coming today and sharing in the celebration of Mom's life.  I would like to first read a poem that I wrote for my Mom when I was 21 (the same age my daughter is today).  I had been living away from home and missing her a lot.  The poem is called, "What Does My Mother Mean to Me".

"When you have a Mother who is as loving as mine, the times that we shared are still clear in my mind and looking back on so many wonderful days of my Mom who I love in so many ways.

You taught me to be the person that I am; you encouraged me and helped me so that I could really understand. 

And although there were times when I didn't want to listen and although there were times when my love for you might not have shown, but now that I am older and now that I have grown I understand the reasons behind the things that you have done.

The clocks have turned and it's my time around, to be a mother the best one I can.  So I will always remember Mom the things that I have learned from you and just pray that someday my daughter will have the same kind of love for me that I have for you."

Mom, Carol to many of you, was not only my Mother she was my best friend.  Mom touched my life, the lives of my sisters Carrie and Denise and my Fathers life in so many special ways.  She was always there to give us encouragement, support and a hug when we needed one.  Mom had a special way when it came to making activities and events in our lives so memorable.  I'd like to share just a few with you:

-          On New Years Eve when we were to young to celebrate Mom would prepare scavenger hunts to keep us entertained while she and Dad were out celebrating with their friends.  Mom would place clues all around the house that took us quite awhile to locate, which would finally lead us to a surprise that we could open at the strike of midnight.

-          Mom also had a tradition of making Carmel Popcorn every 4^th of July that she would put into the largest Tupperware bowl that I think Tupperware makes.

-          Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, you name it, all had special meaning and purpose in our lives because she made each occasion so special for all of our families and us.

Mom enjoyed so many things in life but mostly she enjoyed being with her family.  Mom took up golf years ago so that she could spend more time with Dad and if I'm not mistaken she got pretty good.  I think she even gave Dad a run for his money a time or two, right Dad??  Mom joined the ladies golf group and had many enjoyable days golfing with her friends and sharing stories.

Mom had a love for cooking (she actually made it to the Pillsbury Bakeoff once when we were teenagers).  Mom also enjoyed oil painting, crocheting, sewing, making quilts, shopping, and more shopping, eating ice cream, Sees Candy, Taco's, Taco Salad's and visiting with her Mom in Oxnard, CA.  But if we could ask Mom what she truly enjoyed the most she would probably say "dancing to the Hawaiian wedding song with your Father in Kona Hawaii".    Mom loved her trips to Hawaii with Dad and friends throughout the years and hoped to once again live in Hawaii someday.  My sister Carrie was born in Hawaii when Dad was stationed there in the Navy so Mom had many fond memories of her younger years on the island and looked forward to every trip they took together.

What I am most grateful for (and I speak for my Dad & Sisters as well) is all the wonderful loving memories we will cherish and pass on in our families for many years to come.  Mom will live on in each of us and our families will be blessed by her presence through us.

Guy Kawasaki's Speech, titled "Somewhere Else".

Good afternoon. My name is Guy Kawasaki. The title of my little talk is, Somewhere Else. I knew Carol since 1984--when we started working together at Apple Computer. I see many of her Apple friends, and I'm sure that she and her family appreciate that you are here today.

Carol helped me in countless ways when we worked together at Apple covering my humongous shortcomings and emphasizing my rare abilities. Our system was simple: She did the work, and I took the credit.  If you were to stand on the shore and watch a boat go out to sea, after a while, you'd say that it was gone. But it is only gone in the sense that you cannot see it anymore. It's not really gone, it's just somewhere else. Like a ship, Carol is not really gone, she's just somewhere else. As theologically wrong as this may be, our loss is Heaven's gain because Carol was/is (one must ask what the right term is) a wonderful person. I believe that Carol is in a place where there is no more pain and suffering. There is no more cancer and death. It is a perfect place of perfect peace. And if anyone ever deserved a perfect place and perfect peace it is Carol Ballard, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. 

About two years ago, my mother also went somewhere else. She was in a coma for about two weeks. At the time, I remember what went through my mind as I visited her at the hospice:  I should have gone back home to Hawaii to visit her more often I should not have given her so much trouble when I was a kid I should have, I could have, etc, etc., However, I noticed an interesting thing when I was at the hospice. I reacquainted myself with uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends who I had not spent any serious time with in 15 years. In a very real way, my mother's journey to somewhere else was a catalyst for good things. So too has Carol's journey to somewhere else brought on good things. It is an opportunity in these ways: To bring us together for at least this day to honor someone we all loved. To make us stop and think about our own priorities while we are here before we go somewhere else. To realize how much we have and how fortunate we are and yet to understand how little everything means except the ones you love.  I believe that Carol loves that her journey is having these positive effects.

Bonnie Gallaway's Speech

"I'd like to read this poem Carol's friend Patty McNiff sent to Carol and

her family several weeks ago."

The Need of Friends

 "If nobody smiled and nobody cheered

 and nobody helped us along;

 If every man looked after himself

 and all good things went to the strong.

  If nobody cared just a little for you,

 and nobody thought  about me,

 and we all stood alone in this battle of life,

 what a dreary old world it would be.

  Life is sweet just because of the friends we have made

 and the things in common we share.

 We want to live on, not because of ourselves,

 but because of the people who care.

 It's giving and doing for somebody else;

 on that all life's splendor depends.

 and the joy of the world when you've summed it all up

  is found in the making of friends."   

Author unknown

Carol's friend Lori Biggam along with Patty remember the wonderful trips they and other La Rinconada Country Club friends took to Hawaii and Grey Eagle.  Listening to others and recalling our relationship to Carol, these words spelling Carol's name describe how we perceived her.

This is the friend we knew, loved and will miss.

Rona Wells Speech

I have known Carol for many years through our golf association.  When I first joined La Rinconada Ladies 18 hole group one of my first match encounters was with Carol.  I came home lamenting to my husband George that I had to compete against a woman called Carol Ballard, who had a very low handicap, I think she carried a 22, not to mention she had the most beautiful long flowing hair, the shortest most efficient back swing, and a perfect personality.  Oh gosh if only this was to be my biggest challenge in life. 

Carol's life and my life paralleled each other in many ways.  We were the same age.  We married at the same age, had the same number of children and my only daughter's name is Carole Ann.  When I spoke of Carol at home, which was often I always called her Carol B.  We even shared the same dermatologist for the same problem and it wasn't acne.  We differed mostly in that she outnumbered me in grandchildren, and she even had a great grandson, wow.  We were most alike though in our love of God, family, grandchildren and friends and we spoke often of how they all coped and how hard it must be for them.  How were we to know that some 20 odd years later we would be paired again in our battle with ovarian cancer. 

Carol was diagnosed about 6 months earlier than myself and although I never said this to her I felt that we had been inducted into the Italian Mafia, because now our lives were run by numbers.  The cancer antigen number is called a CA125 and this number depending on its highs or lows governed not only our lives but our families too.  Life had become a roller coaster and words can never describe the feeling when the roller coaster dips to the lowest of lows.  You pick up and go on and when the queasiness subsides in the stomach you somehow go on to the next step with chin up and if not with the highest of hopes, do what you have to do. 

Carol was the ultimate trooper at this for so long, and all she wished was, that her family and her husband, Dr. Ben as he was aptly nicknamed would be ok with all of this.  Last year Carol lost a good friend to cancer, her name was Sandy, I think, and Carol confessed to me that she just couldn't face attending Sandie's service as it was just too painful.  I told her that it was ok and very understandable under the circumstances.  But I have to be here today Carol, all too painful as it is, to pay tribute to one beautiful courageous lady.  I will not think of you as gone but just gone ahead.  I thank you for all your love and support and your generous spirit and I promise, when we meet again I will tell you all about this wonderful send off and the celebration of your life. 

In conclusion I would leave all of you here today with the following:  Life is a gift, unwrap it daily and enjoy.  Rest in Peace Dear Sweet Carol, my sister in Christ. 

Love Rona