Slain trooper's mother: He loved Delaware

Robin Ballard tried for years to get her son, Delaware State Police Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard, to move home to Maryland.

But his response, she told The News Journal on Thursday, was always the same: "I love Delaware, and I'm not leaving."

The 8½-year trooper was killed last week when a man shot him repeatedly in a Bear-area Wawa parking lot. In the days since the 32-year-old trooper's death, family, friends and the Delaware community have pulled together to honor his sacrifice and the legacy of mentorship and dedication he left behind.

"He didn't see it as a job," Robin Ballard said. "He saw it as something he loved to do. Not many people get to say that."

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A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Those wishing to pay respects to his family are invited to do so from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Immediately following, nearly 700 out-of-state uniformed emergency services personnel, as well as hundreds of local law enforcement, will be invited to pay their respects.

Though Ballard's mother always knew her only son was compassionate, she has been most struck by the stories she didn't hear from Stephen, she said. She had no idea he paid for a broken-down motorist's vehicle to be towed and fixed because the motorist didn't have the money, a post that has been circulating on Facebook since Ballard was killed last Wednesday.

"Stephen didn't tell those things to me because they weren't big deals to him," she said. "He just did them."

The two talked every day, she said, exchanging text messages when there wasn't time for phone calls. "I love you" and "I miss you" were the most common messages sent back and forth between the tight-knit mother and son, who shared a love for Prince and his greatest hits.

Robin Ballard was stunned when her son announced in his third year of college that he wanted to be a police officer. He had spent years working with the Civil Air Patrol near their home in Bowie, Maryland, and had fallen in love with airplanes as a child, she said.

Stephen Ballard used to fly down to South Carolina over the summer to visit his grandmother and great-grandmother, often taking tours of the cockpit – an experience once granted to minors flying by themselves. Though most airplanes don't offer those interactions and experiences anymore because of the 9/11 attacks, Robin credits this experience with Ballard's early love for planes and the drive to pursue that career.

"I was really looking forward to those frequent-flyer miles," she said with a laugh.

But that all changed in college as her maturing son fell in love with his community and giving back.

Ballard switched his major to criminal justice and sociology and began pursuing what would be his lifelong job: working as a Delaware state trooper.

He didn't want to be just any local police officer and saw working for the state police as the highest achievement – aside from being governor of the state someday, she said.

"Be the best you can," she remembered preaching to him. "Don't settle because it might be easier. And that's what he did. He became a Delaware state trooper."

Over the years, Robin Ballard watched her son transform from a video game-loving teen into a dedicated state trooper willing to offer mentorship and guidance to children in need.

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He worked extensively with Delaware youth at Camp Barnes, a free summer camp run by Delaware State Police for underserved children, and mentored college students through the Delaware State University collegiate chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, or NOBLE.

"He wanted to make things better," Robin Ballard said. "He wanted to make sure children had all the opportunities he had."

In November 2015, Robin watched her son marry the woman of his dreams, Louise, and gain a daughter, Abigail Lewis, in the process. His love for family only spilled over to his stepdaughter and new family, whom he moved to Hockessin while continuing to work for state police at Troop 2 in Glasgow.

His troop commander, Capt. J. Sapp, said in the days after Ballard's death that he was set to start working on special policing projects in the coming weeks and had big plans for the proactive policeman.

Someday, Robin Ballard said, her son would have run for governor.

He wanted to start small, she stressed, with local government and places he could make an impact. Eventually, he was convinced he would achieve the top office for the state, she said with a laugh. And through all her son's stubbornness and drive, Robin believed it, too.

"I want people to know that he loved being a Delaware state trooper and that he loved helping people," she said. "You would see him walk toward you and see that smile, that big smile of his."

"He was so proud of putting that uniform on every day."

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.

How to donate

Those wishing to donate should make checks out to the DSTA-Stephen Ballard Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 168, Cheswold, DE 19936. Donations can be made at Delaware Wawa stores. The company has also pledged to donate an additional $100,000.

Plan ahead for the funeral

The northbound lanes of I-95 between the Christiana Mall (Exit 4A) and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Exit 6) will be closed beginning at 6 a.m. Friday and will be reopened after a procession of emergency vehicles travel to the Chase Center.

A second closure of the northbound lanes of I-95 between the Christiana Mall and the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will occur beginning at 8 a.m. for the last procession of emergency vehicles to travel to the Chase Center.

The funeral procession will depart the Chase Center around noon and travel to the Gracelawn Cemetery at 2220 N. Du Pont Highway near New Castle. 

Those from the public attending are advised to park off-site from the Chase Center due to parking restrictions for police and other first responders.