Fred moved in with Desiree's parents, while Ball was forced to make a new home with Ed's folks. Peterson, though, wasn't a fan of kids, especially young ones, and with Desiree's blessing, he decided the two of them would move to Detroit without her children. I remember a bird that flew in the window, a picture that fell off the wall.'ĭesiree, still reeling from her husband's unexpected death and pregnant with Fred, packed up and returned to Jamestown, New York, where she eventually found work in a factory and a new husband, Ed Peterson. 'Hanging out the window, begging to play with the kids next door who had measles, the doctor coming, my mother weeping. 'I do remember everything that happened,' she said. For Ball, just 3 years old at the time, her father's death not only set in motion a series of difficult childhood hurdles, but also served as the young girl's first real significant memory. Life came undone in February 1915 when Had was struck with typhoid fever and died. Then it was off to Michigan, where Had took a job as a telephone lineman with the Michigan Bell Company.

The elder of the couple's two children (her brother, Fred, was born in 1915), Ball had a hardscrabble childhood shaped by tragedy and a lack of money.īall's father, Henry (or Had, as he was known to his family) was an electrician, and not long after his daughter's birth he relocated the family to Montana for work. Early Lifeīall was born on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, New York, to Henry Durrell Ball and his wife Desiree. The two divorced in 1960, and Ball went on to star in The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy while also becoming a top TV executive. Lucille Ball got her start as a singer, model and film star before becoming one of America's top comedic actresses with the 1950s TV show I Love Lucy, co-starring on the show with her husband, Desi Arnaz.

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