J. Ballard Washburn

J. Ballard Washburn was a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy on March 31, 1990, and was released on October 1, 1995. He also served as a counselor in a branch presidency, a bishopric, and as a stake president, and Regional Representative. He served as a missionary to New England. He presided over the Arizona Phoenix Mission.

Washburn was born on January 18, 1929. His parents named him after Apostle Melvin J. Ballard because they thought he was a great man. The family lived in Blanding, Utah, until his graduation from high school. His father died when he was twelve years old and his mother moved her ten children to Provo, Utah, where all of the children attended Brigham Young University. She also graduated from BYU. Washburn first majored in music and then switched to medicine. He earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU and a medical degree from the University of Utah Medical School. He set up his practice in Page, Arizona, where he was able to care for many Native Americans.

He and his wife, Barbara, were the parents of ten children and were foster parents to twelve Native American children. She died in 2008.