Four years ago, his house burned in a forest fire. His wife and brother had died by then, as had many medical associates. He returned to Draper and rented a little house across the street from where he'd grown up, halfway between his son in Idaho and his daughter in Colorado. He was blessed, he said, that his parents, Ross Day and Ruby Henriod Ballard, didn't have much money from their poultry business, but taught their 10 kids the value of hard work and the necessity of giving to others. He didn't bother to replace most of what he'd lost in the fire.

With money made in the stock market after retiring, Ballard has endowed two full-ride, four-year scholarships to the U. School of Medicine. Aside from recipients being legal Utah residents, he doesn't put other restrictions on his giving — never has. He hopes the scholarships let future doctors pick their specialties based on talent and choice, without the specter of huge debt chiming in.

While medicine's technical advances please him — the vaccine for polio is still the No. 1 "Wow!" moment of his career, he said, with antibiotics a close second — he views American health care as a flawed system. Doctors are too rushed. Recently, a doctor gave him a physical without even having him remove his shirt. He blames the HMO concept — six patients in an hour. "You can't do it that way and do good medicine."

Last December, a surgeon at Moran Eye Center did another cornea transplant on Ballard and restored "quite a bit of vision. I'm still improving." When he walked into the operating room on Monday, he could see what was going on.

Most of the time, he devours books, his primary love is history. And he tracks his stocks. An up day in the market is good news for U. medical students and, he hopes, the future of medicine in America.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com