The Real Frenesi Gates, dead at 85

[Robin Landseadel]

Photographer George Ballis, who walked with Cesar Chavez, dies at 85

By PABLO LOPEZ
McClatchy Newspapers
Photographer George "Elfie" Ballis, who walked with the late United  
Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez, led a rebellion against farmers over  
water and documented peace movements in Fresno, Calif., died early  
Friday. He was 85.

Mr. Ballis, a Marine veteran, had been ill for a long time and died at  
the Veterans Hospital in Fresno. His ailments included prostate  
cancer, friends said.

With his health in decline, he held an "End Game Party" at his  
Tollhouse home in November 2009. He and his wife, Maia, sang songs and  
shared stories about his life with hundreds of friends.

Maia Ballis could not be reached to comment Saturday. In an e-mail to  
friends on Friday, she said Mr. Ballis told his doctor "he felt  
himself flying over the Earth, then felt himself become one with the  
Earth ... and the rocks."

"He left us with grace and good humor, appreciative of all the  
assistance offered him," the e-mail said. "He never cared for the  
concept of ashes to ashes, and preferred flower to flower."

Maia Ballis said she donated his body to LifeLegacy, a nonprofit  
medical research and education foundation in Tucson, Ariz.

Ballis leaves behind a legacy of social activism and artistic  
sensitivity, others who knew him said Saturday.

"He was really a unique guy," Mike Rhodes, editor of the local  
Community Alliance Newspaper, said Saturday. "He loved life and took  
pride in his work."

As a photographer, Mr. Ballis "could move like the wind and blend into  
the scenery."

His secret: whether his subjects were farm workers or native  
Americans, he would first get to know them before snapping pictures.  
Once he gained their trust, he was able to take photographs of people  
just being themselves, Rhodes said.

Mr. Ballis began covering the farm labor movement in the 1960s. One of  
his most memorable photographs shows Chavez leading farm workers on a  
pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento in California in March of 1966.

Learning of Mr. Ballis' death, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and Paul  
Chavez, president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and son of Cesar  
Chavez, issued a joint statement: "No one (else) has consistently  
demonstrated George's love and commitment to La Causa over so many  
decades."

Born in Minnesota, Mr. Ballis helped his parents run a dry-cleaning  
business and was a high school football standout in his hometown of  
Faribault.

In 1943, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and repaired radar equipment  
in Chicago and torpedo bombers in the South Pacific.

In a 2005 interview, Mr. Ballis said the experience made him a man,  
and gave him his first look at the world outside Minnesota - an  
experience that would change his life forever.

After the war, Mr. Ballis enrolled at the University of Minnesota,  
planning to become an electrical engineer. Instead, he joined a  
radical campus organization called the Student World Federalists.

In 1947, Mr. Ballis wrote a paper opposing the war in Indochina that  
pitted the French against the native Vietnamese. Years later, he  
watched in dismay as the United States got involved and the Vietnam  
War escalated under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Mr. Ballis came to Fresno in 1953. He was editor of the Valley Labor  
Citizen until 1966 and led National Land for People's so-called "water  
war" against west-side farmers from the mid-1970s to early 1980s.

He got his nickname years ago after a Berkeley, Calif., radio host  
said he handled questions "with grace and lightness - like an elf."

In recent years, he followed protesters with his video camera,  
covering issues ranging from the treatment of animals to the war in  
Iraq.

"I Am Joaquin," a 16-minute film Mr. Ballis made in 1969, won several  
awards and was used in Chicano studies at universities. Some footage  
he shot during a Peace Fresno protest was included in Michael Moore's  
2004 controversial hit movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Posted on Sat, Sep. 25, 2010 09:06 PM

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/25/2250421/photographer-george-ballis-who.html