Photograph of the Ballingers. Digital community contribution from Robert M. Randolph, of Swannanoa, NC.

Pope and Dorothy Ballenger, co-founders of West Asheville History Project.  The photo is of their later years, having raised three children, Beverly, Rachel, and Martha,  in their West Asheville home.  Pope was a driver for Youngblood Trucking Co, and Dorothy was a housewife until the children completed school, when she became office manager for her brother, Dr. Chandler, in Weaverville.  They were active in Grace Baptist Church and were loved by many of their children’s peers.  They joined several other West Asheville natives in the 1990s to form the West Asheville History Project, in appreciation of the community in which they were raised and then raised their family.

Robert M. Randolph, August 2026