Obituary of Abdur Razzak

With great sorrow and bittersweet gratitude, the Ball and Khan families announce the passing of our charming and sweet Baba (grandfather), father, brother, uncle, and friend, Abdur “Ray” Razzak from heart failure on January 4, 2024, just one day before his 75th birthday.

Born near Karachi, Pakistan in 1949, Baba never dreamed of coming to America. He enjoyed roaming the streets of his village and playing football (soccer) with his friends, “hopping” freight trains to travel into Karachi, and sneaking to the coast at night to fish. Each year, villagers were allowed to take a test and earn a visa to the States. Baba offered to take the test with a nervous friend and found himself the winner of just two “golden tickets” that year.

Soon he had to decide between Colorado and Oklahoma. Having never experienced a true winter, he opted to attend Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, OK. The long flight from Karachi to DFW changed planes in Atlanta where he was seated for the remainder of the trip next to the “nicest woman from Oklahoma.” They chatted the entire flight. Nearing DFW she asked him, “How do you plan to get to Durant?” He answered confidently, “I’ll ride the bus.” Knowing this was impossible in the mid-70s, the kind woman gave this stranger a ride to Durant.

That first summer, Baba loaded up in one car with new friends to drive across the country to Coney Island, where they worked at Nathan’s Hot Dogs. It is unclear if they profited from this adventure, but he loved the opportunity to see the Big Apple. Sometime that year, Baba attended a college party where he met a lovely redhead from East Texas. He married Vivian Martin as soon as possible, and started a family, settling in Sherman, Texas, working in a grocery store. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last, but he spent several years entertaining his young daughter, Sabrina, every other weekend taking her to Six Flags, watching countless dollar movies, and attending as many large, Pakistani gatherings in DFW as possible. During that time, he fed her a steady diet of McDonald's and Pakistani rice pudding and taught her how to drink English breakfast tea with sugar and milk.

Years later, he boarded the TRE train from Irving to Fort Worth, this time with an actual ticket and a seat to meet his grandchildren. Too nervous to hold newborn Lilah Grace, he was entranced by little John Wyatt, singing Christmas songs and naming his favorite dinosaurs. This began his most treasured time as a grandfather. He loved to visit the Fort Worth Zoo with them, eating homemade lunches, teaching them to feed the birds, and facing his fear of snakes in the reptile house, because he knew it was Wyatt’s favorite spot. He was endlessly fascinated with the opinions of his grandchildren, whom he nicknamed Too Tall and Speedy. He was shocked to see how fast little Lilah ran, playing his childhood sport, and even more surprised by her maturity and intellect. Whenever they challenged him, he would get quiet and then respond, “You are right.” He loved to make his grandchildren giggle, whispering jokes and slipping them his bus fare. He often laughed at their disagreements with their mother, whom he nicknamed Apache for her responses. He moved to Fort Worth in 2021, where he fell in love with the Southside. Baba could tell you the entire history of the Dallas Cowboys and was learning to appreciate the Dallas Mavericks from his son-in-law, he could tell you how to get anywhere on the bus, the proper way to purchase lottery tickets, the best spots for coffee and the best park benches to enjoy good weather and of course, feed the birds. While his heart may have failed him, it was most certainly full.

Abdur Razzak was survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Sabrina Martin Ball and Peter Jason Ball; his much-loved grandchildren, John Wyatt Ball, and Lilah Grace Ball, all from Fort Worth; his niece Roozehra Khan and her newlywed, Arsalan Malik of Chicago and California of whom he was grateful to attend their beautiful wedding; and his beloved sister Khurshid and brother-in-law Zamir Khan. also from California, whom he was grateful to spend time with this last year.

Baba was laid to rest in a private ceremony on January 13th, 2024 with plans for a ceremony in California later this year with the Khan family.