Marti Guarin loves to write, although she admits it “can be a struggle” at times to put all those thoughts on paper.
But the 84-year-old Aurora woman wanted to get her family’s story down – an important narrative mostly focusing on her father, U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General Robert Green Ballance, whose impressive career in uniform included 30 months of service in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
“It was when I hit my 80s,” Guarin told me, “I thought I better get going.”
And so, she began the project, knowing someday this information would be valuable, not only to her two sons Eric and Alex, but to her only grandchild, who all live on the West Coast.
Guarin, a former librarian at Aurora University who also founded the Library and Archives at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, knows something about research. But she often got discouraged with so much information about the Ballance clan, who came to America in 1635 as “minor criminal transports” from England but went on to become pioneers in Illinois.
Had it not been for support from others, including fellow members of her Aurora Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Guarin says this project – simply titled “Ballance” – would not have gotten over the finish line.
Last Saturday, the new author gave a presentation on the book to that DAR audience, which included her 26-year-old granddaughter who had flown in from Los Angeles for the event.
“There was so much I didn’t know,” about her great-grandfather’s story, said Emily Guarin who, as she’s grown older, “gained appreciation and respect” for what her grandmother did and “the level at which she executed it.”
While the focus of “Ballance” is on the extraordinary accomplishments of Marti Guarin’s dad, there is much more family pride in its pages, going back to Guarin’s great-great-great-grandfather, Charles Ballance, who died in 1777 from wounds received in a Revolutionary War battle.
His descendants continued to serve through six generations, including in the Civil War and through her father’s last deployment as a supervisor of aerial logistics during the Korean War.
According to her research, as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps, Robert Ballance was part of the Guadalcanal invasion, and handled shore party landings during the operations of Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa.
After the atomic bombs were dropped – he’d also been in the planning operation for the invasion of Japan, had it happened – Guarin’s father was awarded his first Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and presidential Unit Citation and WWII Victory Medal, among many others, according to her research.
But the Ballances were more than gallant warriors – in fact, a life-size oil painting of Marti’s great-grandfather Charles Ballance’s wife and children – including her grandfather Willis as a 3-year-old – hangs in a place of honor at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield.
Guarin’s fraternal great-grandfather was a legendary attorney from Peoria who tried cases with circuit lawyer Abraham Lincoln and who settled the French claims to land that allowed the city to grow, according to the book. Charles not only created numerous businesses but was a partner in developing the area’s 235-acre Springdale Cemetery, where Guarin and all other family members can be laid to rest in the family plot that, she noted, was paid for “in perpetuity for the price of two cows.”
I’ve not had a chance to consume all 23 chapters but have read enough to be fascinated by its detailed history.
Marti Guarin, who moved to Aurora in 1975 with then-husband Luis Guarin, deputy director of city planning, got her inspiration from a 12-year-old who wanted to know more about Gen. Ballance for a school history project.
“When I got started just writing down things I remembered little vignettes,” she told me. “Then I realized I had to learn all about the war. … Then I did my family history,” which had plenty of sources, including a book her great-grandfather had written.
Guarin’s work, published by Amazon “because I am 84 and running out of time,” is a beautiful compilation of detailed research, documents, newspaper articles and compelling photos that capture tender family moments as well as heavy battle scenes.
“This definitely took a village,” insisted Guarin, who had help from professional genealogists, but also credits Jean Bigger, former technical services director at IMSA, and professional artist Bob Schiltz for the layout; friend and neighbor Mary Beth Nelson and Waubonsee Community College history instructor Jerre Henriksen for their editorial expertise; and neighbor Robert Happ, who produced the maps.
“I think the hardest part was deciding what to include and what to leave out of the book,” said Nelson, “(Robert Ballance) was an amazing man.”
Guarin plans to pass along all her research to the Illinois State Historical Society.
“You just have to write it,” she insisted, noting the many publishing options now available for family history projects.
For Guarin, the book is a labor of love for her only granddaughter, who is well aware of the gift she received.
“Most young people don’t get curious about their genealogy until later in life” when it becomes necessary to go “digging from scratch,” she said.
“I am so lucky to have it as a resource, to have it all here in one place and so beautifully written.”
dcrosby@tribpuub.com
