Community leaders honored Elder M. Russell Ballard Sept. 25 as a man of sensitivity, compassion and love with the drive and know-how to "get things done."
Elder Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve received the "Helping Hand Award" from Utah Youth Village, a 33-year-old charity that operates group homes for troubled youth and gives parenting classes to heal rifts in families. Early on, Elder Ballard gave guidance and encouragement to the late Lila B. Bjorklund, who founded Youth Village in 1969.
"Elder Ballard became a behind-the-scenes consultant to Lila and helped her establish a world-class board of directors as well as develop an alternative funding source" to state funding that had been cut, said Robert B. Garff, prominent business executive and former board chairman of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Introducing Elder Ballard as the honoree, Brother Garff spoke at length about his roles as a father, Church leader, author, entrepreneur, business adviser, academic, historian, champion of youth and humanitarian.
"I believe it would be interesting to contemplate just how many people he has influenced in those key roles," Brother Garff said. He guessed it would be millions. He spoke of Elder Ballard's book, Our Search for Happiness, saying it has become a standard, selling some 450,000 copies.
A video presentation produced for the occasion featured a variety of Church, government, civic and business leaders and family members giving reminiscences and personal reflections about Elder Ballard.
"I first met Russ when we were both young men," said President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency in the taped presentation. "I handled [newspaper] advertising for the automobile dealers in Salt Lake City, and I was in his father's operation, Ballard Motor Co. And Mel Ballard, a dear friend of mine, said, 'Tom, I want you to meet my son Russell. He just came back from his mission in England.' . . . That began our lifelong association."
U.S. Sen. Robert F. Bennett recalled being a student in an early-morning Seminary class where Russell Ballard, a "handsome, enthusiastic" newly returned missionary came to speak. "He made a mission sound like a really wonderful kind of experience," he said.
President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, described him as "a mover but not a shaker. He gets it done without shaking anything."
President Packer added, "You don't know him unless you know Barbara [his wife]. . . . For instance, if you ask him how many children he has, you will never hear him say, 'Well, I have seven.' He will say, 'We have seven.' "
Commented Sheri Dew, former member of the Relief Society general presidency, "He will tell you himself that his great respect for women begins with his wife. . . . He seems to have a natural, instinctive, inherent respect for women."
Art Linkletter, well-known television personality, spoke of the friendship he and Elder Ballard forged in the 1960s when they co-founded Valley Music Hall, now the Church's Bountiful Utah Regional Center. "I've been a friend of Russ and his family for many, many, many years," he said. "He's been trying to make a Mormon of me for at least 25 years I can remember, and I've been working on him to join the Baptist Church, but that's going nowhere, and so we'll rely on our friendship to get us through the next few years."
Son Craig Ballard said, "People imagine what it's like being the son of an apostle. It's very interesting. He's Dad; he's always been Dad. That's his first and foremost responsibility, and he takes it very seriously."
Daughter Tamara Brower said the man who became her husband was an assistant to Elder Ballard when he presided over the mission headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. "My dad knew I thought Elder Brower was a pretty neat guy, and my dad thought Elder Brower was a pretty neat guy," she said. She recalled that a few days before the family left to come home "we were driving down the street and he said, 'I told Elder Brower that you thought he was pretty neat and that you wanted him to write to you.' And I absolutely fell apart. He had this grin on his face like he was enjoying every moment of this torture. . . . Of course, he didn't really say it like that, but he knew it would get my goat."
Civic and government leaders spoke of his involvement with the "Alliance for Unity" in Utah that seeks to build bridges and rid the state of some of the divisiveness between people. Elder Ballard's talk in general conference of October 2001, about the "doctrine of inclusion" was recalled by the Most Rev. George Neiderauer, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.
Sister Ballard spoke of her husband going to Ethiopia some years ago in connection with the Church's fast for the starving people of that nation. She said she heard from him only once when he was on the trip "because he knew how he was getting there, but he didn't know how he was going to get home," she said. Daughter Tamara added: "They had a bunch of granola bars, handing them out to these little children, and I know that just impacted him so much. He has a picture of him with these little children still to this day."
Elder Cecil O. Samuelson of the Presidency of the Seventy said of Elder Ballard: "He's a passionate man. . . in the sense that when he sees something to be done he really strives to get it done."
Elder Ballard devoted his response to paying tribute to Lila Bjorklund, the charity's founder.
"Ever since Lila founded the Utah Girls' Village in 1969, she has been the spirit of service to youth in Utah," he said. "With the support of her good husband, Russell, Lila touched the lives, hearts and souls of thousands of young people. She initiated legislation. She raised money for facilities and programs. She oversaw work at the Village with passion, conviction and tenderness. She believed that 'every child is entitled to live in a happy, wholesome environment where individuals are valued and loved.' And she worked tirelessly to make it happen."
Contrasting her attitude with the recent television program "American Idol," in which thousands of young singers were eliminated from a field of competition to make it big in the entertainment industry, he said, "I don't know about you, but I have the feeling Lila would have been aghast at this concept. While she knew and appreciated the value of the 'one,' the notion of 'just one' was completely foreign to her. She valued each life that came into contact with hers and wanted only the best for each one."
E-mail: rscott@desnews.com
