Today is President Ballard's 91st birthday. Here are 23 photos to celebrate his life
Elder M. Russell Ballard tells a story to his family members during a council meeting in Salt Lake City on Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. Now President Ballard — as acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — has been an energetic advocate of the council system in the Church stretching at least as far back as October 1993, when he talked on that subject in general conference for the first time. Nick Wagner
President Ballard has been serving as the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since Jan. 14, 2018. He was sustained as an apostle on Oct. 6, 1985.
While serving as president of the Canada Toronto Mission, he was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 1976. From February 1980 to October 1985, he served as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy.
He married Barbara Bowen on Aug. 28, 1951, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of seven children. Sister Ballard passed away on Oct. 1, 2018, at the age of 86. President Ballard acknowledged the passing of his wife during his October 2018 and October 2019 general conference talks.
Here are 23 photos celebrating the life of President Ballard:
M. Russell Ballard as a toddler. He was born in Salt Lake City on Oct. 8, 1928 to Melvin Russell and Geraldine Smith Ballard. | Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
M. Russell Ballard and Barbara Bowen were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 28, 1951. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
M. Russell Ballard and his wife Barbara B. Ballard. | Deseret News archive
M. Russell Ballard, left, worked as the president of Ballard Motor Company, his father's car dealership, in the 1950s. | Deseret News archive
M. Russell Ballard served twice as a bishop. Here he is pictured with the Holladay 12th Ward, Olympus Stake. Left to right are Glendon M. Whitmore, first counselor; Bishop M. Russell Ballard Jr., and Boyd N. Nielson, second counselor. At rear are Irvan W. McCarrel, J. Rodney Taylor and H. Clive Kimball, clerks. | Deseret News archive
Elder and Sister M. Russell Ballard are thrilled at the new calling to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy. | Church News archive
Elder M. Russell Ballard, second from left, and Sister Barbara Ballard, right, and their children match wits and luck in the game of Bonkers in the 1980s. | Church News archive
Elder M. Russell Ballard reviews curriculum material at the Church in March 1980. | Church News archive
Elder M. Russell Ballard gives a talk about families in a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse on May 25, 1980. Pictured with his daughter and son-in-law, he uses his grandson to make a point that no one knows the destiny of a child. | Church News archive
Elder Charles Didier and Elder M. Russell Ballard, on front row, mingle with children and others in the congregation when Suriname was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel in February 1990. | Church News archive
Elder M. Russell Ballard, right, was a guest of President George Bush at Camp David for the dedication of the new interfaith chapel at the former president's Maryland retreat. Elder Ballard received a silver tray for the Church's contribution to the Camp David Chapel Fund Inc. This picture appeared in an April 1991 edition of the Church News. | Church News archive
Elder M. Russell Ballard, President Howard W. Hunter, and Elders Russell M. Nelson Joseph B. Wirthlin, and Dean L. Larsen watch the cornerstone laying at the dedication of the Las Vegas Temple in 1989. | Church News archives
Elder M. Russell Ballard, President Boyd K. Packer, Jon M. Huntsman Sr., Bishop H. David Burton, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson at the Baton Rouge Evacuation Center on Sept. 4, 2005. | Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Elder M. Russell Ballard and Jon M. Huntsman Sr. at Waterfall Resort in Alaska in July 1994. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, talks about grave sites of Joseph and Hyrum Smith commemoration service June 27th, 2002. | Jeffrey D. Allred
Peter Huntsman, Sr., Elder M. Russell Ballard, and Elder Jon M. Huntsman survey some of the damage in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Sept. 4, 2005. | Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Left to right: Elder Quentin L. Cook, Michelle Obama, Elder M. Russell Ballard. Michelle Obama met with the apostles during a campaign stop in Salt Lake City on behalf of her husband, Senator Barack Obama, in February 2008. | Intellectual Reserve, Inc
Elder M. Russell M. Ballard shakes hands with a young child in Moscow, Russia, June 4. | Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Elder M. Russell Ballard speaks during the annual Days of '47 rodeo at the new state fair park arena in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. | Jeffrey D. Allred
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sister Cristina B. Franco, second counselor in the Primary general presidency gather in prayer with The Reverend Clemons in Houston, Texas, Saturday and Sunday, September 16-17, 2017. | Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve of the Quorum of the Twelves and his wife Sister Barbara Ballard exit at the end of the afternoon session of the Church's 187th Semiannual General Conference in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, rides in the Days of Õ47 Parade in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. | Kristin Murphy
President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, pose near the Vatican in Rome, Italy, on March 9, 2019 after meeting with Pope Francis. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
