Ariel was born December 9, 1901, in Logan, Utah, the youngest son of Emma Smith and John Lyman Ballif. As a child he moved with his family to Rexburg, Idaho, where he grew up, gaining notoriety as an athlete and a dramatic tenor.
In 1925, the same year he was graduated from BYU, he married Arta Romney in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Two years later, he and Arta were called to serve a mission in New Zealand where he served as principal of the LDS Church's Maori Agricultural College. In 1930, the family returned to Idaho where Ariel taught and coached at Medway High School. Despite the pressures of the Great Depression, Ariel and Arta sold their possessions and took their small children to Los Angeles so that he could pursue graduate studies at the University of Southern California. He was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1937, came to teach in the Department of Sociology at Brigham Young University in 1938, and finished his Ph.D. at USC in 1945.Ariel's lifelong desire was to use his understanding in the service of others. During World War II, he took on a painful government assignment as War Relocation Adjustment Advisor for the Intermountain area. Pursuing his interest in progressive social issues, he served on state committees on aging, marriage counseling, mental health, and regulations governing detention homes, and was the state chairman of the Utah Council on Family Life. He always involved himself in civic responsibilities, including the process of reforming Provo City government in the 1950's. He was elected to the Provo City Council in 1958 and served as interim mayor, 1960-61. He has been a member and chairman of the Provo City Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment, member of the Provo City Coordinating Council and Utah County Planning Commission, and president of the Downtown Coaches. From 1972 to 1981 he was a member of the Provo City Senior Citizen Council and served two terms as its chairman. In the late 1970's and 1980's, he was on the Change of Government Committee for Provo City, the Utah County Government Study, and the Provo River Trail Committee.
In 1955, Ariel was called again to New Zealand to preside over the LDS mission. Under his stewardship, two stakes were organized, the church college was built, and the temple was built and dedicated.
Returning to Provo and BYU, Ariel served as chairman of the Department of Sociology, dean of the BYU summer school, chairman of the athletic council, chairman of the curriculum committee, and foreign student advisor. At BYU, he taught courses in social psychology, community organization, race relations, and marriage and family. In the summer of 1969 Ariel was invited to the Republic of China in Taiwan, to study the educational system. He became professor emeritus in 1972. He is a fellow in the American Sociological Association, and an alumnus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Utah Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, and the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors. For distinguished scholarship, he has been honored with membership in Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Kappa Delta.
In 1969 Ariel received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Ricks College and in 1976 a Distinguished Service Award from the BYU Alumni Association. He was named Outstanding Man of Provo at the 1983 American Freedom Festival. In 1988, BYU awarded Ariel and Arta a Presidential Citation.
In addition to seven years of missionary work in New Zealand, Ariel served his church as a bishop of the Provo Ninth Ward, president of the East Provo Stake, and patriarch in the East Provo, East Sharon, and BYU 9th stakes. He was a sealer in the Salt Lake and Provo temples. From 1961 to 1965 he authored social science lessons for the Relief Society of the church and also wrote for the MIA manuals.
Ariel's devotion to his wife during their more than 67 years of marriage inspired all who saw it. He offered strength and acceptance to everyone he met and never ceased working to make the world a better place. His family finds joy in his legacy of great love, service, respect for truth, and appreciation for the beauty of each day on earth.
He is survived by his daughter Maralyn and her husband James U. Lavenstein (of Chicago, Illinois), son Jae and his wife Carma, daughter Bonnie and her husband Robert J. Spanvill (all of Provo), son-in-law John H. Bennett (of Salt Lake City), nineteen grandchildren, and twenty-two great-grandchildren. His wife, son Ariel Jr., daughter Moana, two brothers, and four sisters preceded him in death.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May 16, 1995, 12 noon, at the Oakhills 6th Ward (Hillside) LDS Chapel, 1900 North 1500 East, Provo. Friends may call at the Berg Mortuary of Provo, 185 East Center Street, Monday evening from 6-8 p.m. or Tuesday morning at the Ward chapel, one hour prior to services. Interment, East Lawn Memorial Hills. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made to the Brigham Young University Library in the name of Ariel S. Ballif, Sr.
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