Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs: Lifelong fan, 108, dies shortly after Cubs win World Series

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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You’ve like seen the story of the Chicago Cubs fan who has literally experienced every moment of the 108-year drought. Mabel Ball died on Tuesday, but she did it as a happy lady.

Her story is one that’s hard to believe. Not only was Mabel Ball 108 years old, but she had been a Chicago Cubs fan her entire life. That’s been a tough find following the Cubs World Series win. Many of us expressed our joy by saying we had been Cubs’ fans “our whole life”. But Mabel had everyone beat. She had somehow waited 108 years, and now she can rest in peace. Heck, she’s was alive to see the last one in 1908–but was only a few months old at the time.

Mabel grew up with the sound of Cubs’ games resonating through the house on the radio. And in 108 years, she saw only one game in person. It was at Wrigley Field, on her 90th birthday. She had been interviewed during the World Series but had suffered a heart attack shortly after. Her son Rich, 75, of Oak Park, said the interviews “didn’t add any stress to her life. She seemed fine.”

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One of more endearing stories came a few days while resting in bed following the heart attack.

Enough with the nonsense

“Mom, you know, you’ve become a little bit of a low-level celebrity. Your story was in the newspaper, and it was on TV, coast-to-coast. A friend of mine even saw it in Berlin.

“What do you think about being a celebrity?” he asked her.

“It’s a lot of nonsense,” he said she told him.

“That was her, all over,” he laughed. “She was already a great person. You couldn’t make her bigger by calling her a celebrity.”

Mabel quit school after her junior year after her mother died. The family needed help to take care of the family and their farmhouse. This wasn’t a sacrifice, this was just what needed to be done. Her son Rich said his mother taught him a valuable lesson with how she lived her life.

“She had no resume. It’s not as important what you’ve done that’s worthy of writing down. It’s who you are.”

Mabel Ball’s daughter Ardyth Howe, a widow, has a planned Oct. 12 wedding to William Peterson that Preis said she was looking forward to with excitement. Other survivors include her children Stephany (Howard) Hull; Richard (Nancy) and Donald (Brenda). Her son Douglas and daughter-in-law Connie preceded her in death. Services are private. h/t Irv Leavitt – Chicago Tribune

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