Burial services were held Friday at Indian Woods Missionary Baptist Church in Windsor for former North Carolina Congressman Frank Ballance.
Ballance died last Friday at the age of 77, following a procedure at a Raleigh hospital, according to a family spokesperson.
Prior to representing the state’s 1st District in Congress from 2002 until 2004, Ballance served more than two decades in the North Carolina House and Senate. He held the number 2 spot in the Senate chamber. Shortly after Ballance resigned from Congress, citing ill health, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to divert $2.3 million in state taxpayer money to his family and others through a charitable foundation he helped to start when he served in the General Assembly. Ballance served more than three years in prison.
Congressman G. K. Butterfield, who succeeded Ballance as the 1st District’s representative, described him as a friend and a "voice for everyday North Carolinians."
A memorial service was held for the Bertie County native on Thursday at Elevation Baptist Church in Raleigh.
