In light of recent events which have called into question the conduct of Seabolt supporters, our family felt it necessary to share our story.
In March, our father, William Thomas Ballentine, passed away at Hospice of Davidson County. During his final weeks of life, a woman who is closely associated with the Seabolt campaign attempted to get close to our father despite him having stated and made clear he wanted nothing to do with her because she spent years attacking him and one of his sons privately and publicly for talking about and not supporting Greg Seabolt.
When our father was in the hospital, this woman continued to attack one of his sons, including attacking him publicly, “I would think with your dad fighting for his life right now, you would have him on your mind and not Greg Seabolt.” After being confronted, she doubled down on it, calling the same son selfish for criticizing Seabolt.
At the time, Duke University had a two-visitor policy, and they had to be the same two people. The hospital was compassionate enough to allow our father’s wife to stay with him without kicking us off his visitor policy. A week or so after those hideous remarks, this person tried to convince our father’s wife to allow her to come to stay with him both at the hospital and his home should he return home.
After getting nowhere with his wife, she reached out to another family member to try again. She even acknowledged that she had an issue with one of his sons during the conversation. Despite having no known professional medical experience, this person tried convincing family members she could come help take care of him.
Our father spent the final days of his life in terror of this individual, scared that she would show up and harm him any way she could. Before his body was laid to rest, she continued attacks against his family members, including a public salvo of personal attacks against one of his family members she had previously declared to be a “future leader for Randolph County.” This individual continues to talk to our dad’s wife. In our sincerely held opinion, she convinces his wife of untrue things to deprive us of our stepmother.
This vile person deprived a dying man of a peaceful exit from this world. She deprived our family of a peaceful mourning and grieving process; and is now denying our family the ability to move on peacefully and as a family unit. She is doing these things all because of politics.