Charles Caleb Ballard was born at Holy Cross in Marion County, Kentucky; he went by Caleb. He graduated from Holy Cross High School; attended St. Bernard's College, at Cullman, Alabama, for three years; and graduated from Villa Madonna College, in downtown Covington, Kentucky, in 1952. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda fraternity and worked on the staff of Villa Madonna's campus newspaper, "The Triad."

Caleb earned a Master of Science degree in Social Work (MSSW) from the University of Louisville's Kent School of Social Work. His thesis was titled "Return of Children from foster care to own parents: a study of social and physical factors in the return of 75 children to forty sets of parents from foster care by the Division of Children's Services, Department of Economic Security of the Commonwealth of Kentucky." The original thesis is in U of L's Ekstrom Library collection.

Caleb was employed by the Kentucky Department of Economic Security from 1952 to 1961. He married Carolyn Smothers, of Frankfort, Kentucky, on 02 Aug 1958. They lived at 1132 Rye Drive. They had two sons.

He was the Assistant Director of the State Division of Public Assistance, in Frankfort, at the time of his death. He collapsed on the parking lot of the Capitol Annex, on Thursday afternoon, 05 October 1961. He was dead on arrival at King's Daughters Hospital; he was thirty-one years old. Sullivan Funeral Home, 219 Conway Street, Frankfort, was in charge of arrangements. Governor Bert T. Combs attended his visitation. His funeral was conducted at Frankfort's historic Good Shepherd Catholic Church, on Wapping Street, on Saturday, 07 Oct 1961. His brother, the Rev. Emanuel Ballard, O.M.I., officiated. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Holy Cross, Kentucky.