LDS apostle Holland, back from ‘death’s door,’ joins Oaks, Cook and family in remembering M. Russell Ballard

With emotion in his voice, Jeffrey R. Holland, speaking at Friday’s funeral for friend and fellow Latter-day Saint apostle M. Russell Ballard, described his own recent visit to “death’s door,” a three-week period during a longer hospital stay in which he lay unconscious.

Holland, who spoke while seated, explained that every day, with his life hanging “in the balance,” Ballard visited his bedside or called the hospital, offering blessings or simply visiting his ailing colleague.

“How,” he asked, “do you thank a man for that?”

The 82-year-old Holland has been named acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, replacing Ballard, who died Sunday at age 95.

Notably absent from the service in the Tabernacle on downtown Salt Lake City’s Temple Square was church President Russell M. Nelson. The 99-year-old Latter-day Saint prophet injured his back in a fall in early September and was unable to attend in person October’s General Conference, instead delivering his message in a video recording. He announced he was “slowly” returning to the office in a Nov. 10 social media post.

President Dallin H. Oaks, Nelson’s 91–year-old first counselor in the faith’s governing First Presidency and next in line to lead the global church of 17 million members, presided over Friday’s service. In his own remarks, he praised Ballard’s “legendary” gift for missionary work and noted that as the great-great-grandson of Joseph Smith’s brother Hyrum Smith, the apostle of 38 years had a “tangible connection” to the faith’s founder.

“President Ballard never saw this heritage as a badge of honor or an entitlement of any kind,” apostle Quentin L. Cook explained in his own address. “He did see it as a responsibility — to teach the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

All three apostles praised the one-time car dealer’s steady hand as the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the mentorship he provided to its more junior members.

Holland recalled the anxiety he felt the night before he was scheduled to meet Ballard for the first time. The “newly named and totally ignorant” president of the Europe North Area of the church took to prayer in an effort to quiet his fears of disappointing the older apostle. As he did, he heard a voice. It may have been audible, he said, or perhaps only in his mind. But it was clear.

“‘Russell Ballard,’” Holland remembered the voice saying, “‘will be one of the best friends you will ever have In this world. You will enjoy his company and seek his counsel for the rest of your life.’”

That “unexpected answer,” the apostle said, “has been more than fulfilled In every detail a thousand times over.”

Cook, meanwhile, stressed Ballard’s important role in the development of missionaries’ teaching materials, from the uniform system rolled out in 1985 to the latest edition of “Preach My Gospel.”

Other speakers included Ballard’s son Craig Ballard and daughter Holly Clayton, both of whom recalled their father’s efforts to prioritize his family despite decades of demanding church assignments.

“He would play ‘Shaky Bridges’ with us when he came home from work,” Clayton remembered fondly, “and would, often more than we wanted, tickle us until we would cry for mercy.”

When Clayton was diagnosed with cancer later in life, she said her father was “devastated,” and called on the family to fast and pray for her before giving her a blessing of strength and healing.

“He was our broad shoulder to cry on,” she said, “and his chest was a peaceful place.”

Recalling one of his final moments with his father, Craig described his dad asking him, “Am I clean?”

Then, “after a lengthy pause,” the son recalled, “as though he was being assured from the other side, his question turned into a statement. He said emphatically, grasping my hand with strength, ‘I am clean. I am clean.’”

One after another, speakers celebrated Ballard’s entrepreneurial acumen and devotion to his wife, Barbara, who died in 2018 at age 86.

With tears in her eyes, Holly addressed her father directly at one point.

“Take,” she said, “Mama dancing.”

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square provided the music for the event. Ballard was buried in the historic Salt Lake City Cemetery on Friday afternoon.

The apostle’s death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve. Nelson is likely to fill that vacancy before next April’s General Conference. In 2018, the former heart surgeon made history when he appointed the faith’s first Asian American and Latin American apostles, Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares, respectively.

Holland, who is now second in line behind Oaks to assume the church’s reins, entered the service holding the arm of another. The popular apostle has struggled with health issues on and off since June 2020, including a period in which he was temporarily excused from duties related to his calling.