Melvin Russell Ballard Jr., was born October 8, 1928 to his parents Melvin Russell Ballard SR. and his wife, Geraldine Smith Ballard.  He was the only boy among three sisters. All of the siblings lived in the same home in Salt Lake City, UT until they were married.

Elder M. Russell Ballard grew up knowing the meaning of hard work. His father was the owner of Ballard Moto Co. in Salt Lake City. He instilled the work ethic to always work hard and whatever you’re doing. Elder Ballard always had a job from the time he could work. He started out young mowing lawns to earn money. His mother was his best friend when we was young, he remembers her as a sweet and compassionate woman.

Anne Keddington, his younger sister, remembers Elder Ballard as a young man,  he was “ smiling, slender, wiry young man with a fun sense of  humor.” 

 When Elder Ballard was attending East High School in Salt Lake City, he was seminary president his senior year. He attended the University of Utah and was known as the bishop to his fraternity brothers. All his friends knew that whatever he was doing, he would be true and faithful. Elder Ballard’s education was a lot of hands on work. With his father owning Ballard Motor Co., he got to work with his father and learn the importance of setting goals. 

He learned how to set goals in work, education, church, and family.

Proficiently he became involved in many endeavors; auto motive, real estate, mining, and investment businesses. 

Eventually he took over Ballard Motor Co. from his father.

                          

 At the same time he served as First Lutenit in the United States Army Reserve. He had many down falls in his career, but always bounced back. He said: “to me, failure is only when you quite trying. If you keep working at a task and try to do what’s right and honest, ultimately it works out.” Over the years he worked in many places. He worked as the President of Valley Music Hall in Bountiful Utah. The Theater gave people lots of enjoyment and entertainment. He spent time in other leadership positions in professional organizations. Such as Chamber of Commerce, Deseret Book Company, and the Salt Pallet advisory board.

Elder Ballard served his mission in England from 1948-1950 at the age of 21. He was the 1^st counselor in the British Mission Presidency. When he returned home he returned to his education at the University of Utah. This is where he met Barbara Bowen, who would become his wife.

 “I met her at the University of Utah ‘Hello Day Dance.’ A friend of mine thought I ought to meet her, so he tagged in to dance with her, danced over to where I was, introduced me, and I danced with her thirty seconds before I was tagged out. That was the beginning of a courtship of eleven months.

   
 “She was not only beautiful, but had a sparkling personality. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to marry her, but she didn’t share the same feelings. It was a little hard convincing her. I kid her now that getting her to agree to marry me was the greatest sales job I ever did,” said Elder Ballard.

Just after they were married he was called to be a Bishop, and he served in other church callings over the years. From 1974-1976 he was called to be the President of the Canada Toronto Mission.

 He was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1976. In 1980 he was called to the Presidency of that quorum.

In October 1985 he was called to be any Apostle. He got a phone call from President Hinckley to meet him in his office. He was thinking that he would be called to speak in General Conference. This came as a surprise to him and his family, his wife thought, please say that again? This was a humbling experience for the whole family.

 He was sustained in October 1985 General Conference and ordained October 10, 1985. Elder Ballard has been an apostle for 28 years in October.

Elder Ballard has many interests including the automotive industry and many other business ventures. His most devoted time is spent with his family and he never had them take a back seat to his work. His children are full of stories of how their father was always there for them and has always been the patriacharch of the family.

These following stories were excerpts taken from http://www.gapages.com/ballamr2.htm

   Their son Clark spoke of happy memories of time spent with his father, despite the demands on his dad’s time. “Dad would take me to Ely, Nevada, with him when I was young, to a mine he had an interest in. It was exciting for me as a young boy. I’d put on the helmet with a light on the front of it, and we’d go down the mine shaft. The only reason he took me was so we could be together.”
    
 Daughter Stacey also told of happy memories. “The first thing I think of about Dad is the way he’ll do anything for us kids, regardless of how dumb it might seem. When we were in Laguna Beach, California, this summer, I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies. He drove all around Laguna trying to find me one.”
    “He has always been understanding,” said his daughter Holly. “The day I got my driver’s license, he let me borrow his beautiful Buick Electra. I was returning a sweater to the store for him. When I parked the car, I scraped its side.
   
 “I was shaking when I called my dad, afraid that he’d be upset. He just laughed and told me it was only a car and no big deal. He was so understanding. He always seemed to know when we needed an arm around us.”
  
  His daughter Tammy had a similar experience. “When I was in second grade, he was always bringing home a different used car, because of the business. One Sunday he had a yellow Cadillac with a white roof, and my friends and I jumped in the car to get a ride home from dad. We started jumping around in the car and a friend kicked the gear shift into neutral. The car rolled back and hit another car. My friends fled, and I panicked.


   “I ran and told mom, and we went home. When we pulled up the garage door, the yellow Cadillac was there. My friends and I had jumped into another man’s car and wrecked it. I thought dad would be upset. But when he got home, he scooped me up in his arms and told me he was proud of me for telling the truth, then he took care of it and never mentioned it again. I really learned a lot from my father.”

If you were to ask other men that he serves with to describe elder Ballard they would say that he is “teachable”. The follow was a story relayed by Boyd K. Packer:

 “It is not unusual to find those who have very brilliant minds to at once lack humility and meekness,” said Elder Packer. “Not so with M. Russell Ballard. If I should choose a word to describe him, it would be teachable. That is a synonym for meekness. Meekness and weakness are not synonyms.
    “When he was presiding over the mission in Toronto, I toured the mission. When I returned home, my wife was concerned because I was so tired. ‘Did you have a mission president that wouldn’t listen to your instruction?’ she asked.

    “I replied, ‘No, just the opposite. I found a mission president who was so eager to learn and so desirous of obtaining instruction that I was drawn beyond what we ordinarily are able to do.’ ”

Elder Ballard teaches from his own life experience the importance of service to those around us.

 Excerpt from the following talk:

"For example, I remember as a bishop working alongside several active members of my ward as we cleaned out the silage pit at the stake welfare farm. This was not a pleasant assignment! A less-active brother who had not been to church for many years was invited to join with us. Because of the love and fellowship he felt with us as we worked and talked in that smelly silage pit, he came back to church and was later sealed in the temple to his wife and his children. Our fellowship through service has blessed his children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren. Many of them have served missions, have married in the temple, and are raising an eternal family—a great work wrought by a simple act, a small fleck of gold."