Theresa Mizui Balmas

Theresa Mizui Balmas Copperas Cove Theresa passed away on the evening of December 1, 2013. Theresa was being visited and comforted by family members at The Mission at Mesa Springs nursing facility in Abilene, Texas. She was 90 years old. Funeral services will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Copperas Cove, Texas with Deacon John Consentino officiating, directed by Scotts Funeral Home, 1614 So. FM 116 in Copperas Cove. Burial will follow at 2:30 p.m. in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. Theresa was born Sachi Mizui in Formosa (now Taiwan) on June 28, 1923 to her mother and father, Ei and Tomo Mizui. She was raised on the Pacific islands of Tinian and Rota where her father supervised sugar processing factories. She then moved to live with relatives in Ueda, Japan in order to attend high school. Theresa attended pharmacy school at Tokyo Imperial University during World War II. After graduation, she worked in the hospital pharmacy at Johnson Air Base in Sayama, Japan where she met her future husband, Louis Balmas, who was a pharmacist in the U.S. Army. Theresa and Louis married on February 17, 1951 in Tokyo, Japan. After living in San Antonio, Bremerhaven (Germany), Killeen, and Fort Hood, the family settled in Copperas Cove in 1962. Theresa was a homemaker and mother while raising her children and later worked for the Civil Service as a clinical laboratory technician at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas. Upon retirement, she continued to work in the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center clinical laboratory as a Red Cross volunteer up until 2002. She was honored at Darnall with the Red Cross Volunteer of the Year Award and was also recognized for her volunteer work by President George H. W. Bush. Her Catholic faith was very important to Theresa and she was an active member of the Holy Family Catholic Church. She enjoyed gardening and traveling and was especially known for her cooking and baking. She also loved watching figure skating on television and doting on her grandchildren. Theresa was preceded in death by her parents, her two sisters and her husband. Theresa is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Rose and Grady Waddell of Abilene, Texas; her son, Tom Balmas of Galveston, Texas; and her grandchildren, Stephen Waddell of Chicago, IL; Michael Waddell of Brooklyn, NY; Amber Waddell of Breckenridge, CO; and Jason Waddell of Antwerp, Belgium. The family would like to extend special thanks to Terri Zeigler for the many years of loving care she provided. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, American Diabetes Association, Gentiva Hospice Foundation, or Hendrick Hospice of Abilene.