James Ballantine June 22, 1941 - June 13, 2023
James Clinton Ballantine was born on June 22, 1941, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Jim was the youngest of five children born to Clinton Wilford and Ann Catherine (Houlihan) Ballantine. Growing up, Jim was an avid sports fan. He played baseball with his three older brothers, and he loved to play ice hockey. The brothers would run the hose at night and let the water freeze to create an ice hockey rink in the backyard for the whole neighborhood. He would often joke that "North Dakota had 9 months of winter and 3 months of poor sledding." Jim also enjoyed golf and shot a round of 64 on his 16th birthday. He lived only a few blocks away from his high school sweetheart and future wife, Margaret Victoria Wilker. Jim & Margaret married on August 17, 1963. The newlyweds both graduated from the University of North Dakota after living in married housing on campus, which was literally a Quonset hut.
Jim was a sharp businessman and worked in the construction industry for many decades. Jim had a background in accounting and was a wizard on the adding machine in an age before computers. He worked for one of the largest construction companies in the world that contracted with the United States Government to rebuild Vietnam multiple times during the war. He helped construct large manufacturing facilities for Anheuser-Busch all over the nation. In 1973, he moved to Wilmington, North Carolina to work for Miller Building Corporation where he served as the Executive Vice-President before retiring in 1993. During his time at Miller Building, he helped a fledgling company called Walmart build one-million square foot distribution centers in its first 17 states. Jim drove his car across North Carolina with Dr. Hubert Eaton to create affordable housing units in distressed minority neighborhoods. After retiring from Miller Building, Jim managed Sunbelt Business Brokers with his longtime friend, Joe Augustine, and established The Accounting Dept, a tax and accounting firm for small businesses, where he worked with his daughter Amy, a CPA.
Jim loved his community and was involved with about everything at St. Mary Catholic Church. Through the decades, Jim also attended St. Therese and St. Mark Catholic Churches. He coached his son Patrick's many youth sports teams including YMCA church league basketball, Pop Warner football, and Little League baseball at Winter Park Optimist, where Jim also served as a board member. He was known to drive all over town to pick up his players to make sure they could get to practices and games. Jim was a wonderful dad who didn't miss a game in any sport played by his son, or gymnastics meets/cheerleading events for his daughter. When his first granddaughter Wilker was born in 1999, Jim became known by his entire family as "Papa". Papa loved to attend anything and everything that involved his grandkids, including many musicals, dance recitals, school events, awards ceremonies, baptisms, first communions, and sports.
Jim was a member of the Investors Round Table and the Committee of 100. Jim was a long-time member of the Cape Fear Club and Hanover Seaside Club. He enjoyed having lunch at the CFC every day with his friends in the business community. Jim served as a Rotarian and was a board member in the early years of the Watson School of Education at UNCW. For over 20 years, Jim was the Committee Chair of the North Carolina Azalea Festival Workers' Party (which honored 100s of Azalea Festival volunteers). Jim also served on the New Hanover County ABC Board. He often played tennis and golf with family and friends at Echo Farms, Pine Valley, and Landfall country clubs. Jim absolutely loved the UNCW Seahawks sports programs and held multiple officer positions including serving as President of the Seahawk Club. He and his wife, Margaret, attended UNCW men's and women's sporting events enjoying basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, and just about every athletic event at UNCW. He and his friends travelled with the Seahawks to the NCAA men's basketball tournament games. He loved cheering "Go Hawks!". Jim was exceptionally honored to be inducted into the UNCW Athletic Hall of Fame in 2020.
Jim is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Margaret Victoria (Wilker) Ballantine; his son, Patrick James Ballantine and daughter-in-law, Lisa Marie Ballantine, granddaughter, Wilker Marie (Ballantine) Yeargan (Fisher), and grandson, Augustus James "Augie" Ballantine; his daughter, Amy Ballantine Ellis and her husband, Christopher David Ellis, granddaughter Lily Catherine Ellis, grandson, Jackson Swain Ellis, and granddaughter, Madeleine Gray Ellis; his sister Rita (Ballantine) Gustafson; his sister-in-law Patricia Ballantine; and, many nieces, nephews and cousins.
