George Smith Ballif was born on June 4, 1894, in Logan, Utah to Emma Gurney Smith and John Lyman Ballif, Sr. He was one of six siblings. The Ballif family relocated to Rexburg, Idaho in 1900, where they worked in dry farming and merchandising. George attended Rexburg public schools and Ricks Academy High School. During tourist seasons, George would work at Yellowstone Park. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to France from 1914-1916. Due to the outbreak of World War I, he was transferred to Switzerland and England. Upon his return in 1916, George entered Ricks College. The United States Army soon drafted George in 1917. George traveled with US troops to France where he fought in the Melz and Argonne battles. Interestingly, George was back in Paris for the Armistice signing after being a missionary there for the declaration of war. George returned to the US and attended Brigham Young University in 1919 where he became the student body president and married Algie Eggertsen, who was a teacher from Ricks College when they first met but was then teaching at BYU. They were married on December 24, 1920, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Together, they had four children. George graduated from BYU in 1921 and then attended Harvard Law School but later transferred to the law school at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated law school in 1924 and started a private law practice in the old Farmers and Merchants Bank building in Provo, Utah. He later became the appointed city judge, a juvenile judge, the city attorney, county attorney, and district attorney. Within his work in law, George was also a member of the National Commission for World Peace Through World Law, which advocates for finding peaceful resolutions without warfare. George died on October 31, 1977, in Provo, Utah.