Read today’s update on how the girls will be able to get pampered & meet Taylor Swift today. Way to go Pete Ballard, Stefanie Whitaker Ballard & all of your friends.  After a short battle with an unknown illness, and surrounded by family and friends, my brother’s wife Stefanie Whitaker Ballard passed away peacefully at Piedmont Hospital on Sunday, August 2, 2015. She was 44 years old. A native of Atlanta, she attended Tulane University and moved back to Atlanta in 1996 to volunteer for the Olympics. One of her last wishes was to get her girls to see Taylor Swift’s concert for their birthdays.