F. Melvin Hammond was born in Blackfoot, Idaho. He served in the Spanish-American mission from 1954 to 1956. Two months after returning from his mission, on 14 September 1956, Mel married Bonnie Sellers in the Salt Lake Temple. He then attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. After graduating from BYU, he taught seminary and institute in Utah and Colorado. The Hammonds moved to Rexburg, Idaho, in 1966, where Mel was appointed professor of religion at Ricks College. Shortly thereafter, he was elected to the Idaho State Legislature, where he served for sixteen years. He served as president of the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission from 1984 to 1987. He has also served as a bishop, a stake president, and an executive secretary to a Regional Representative. At the time he was called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, he was serving as high priests group leader, in addition to his calling as Sunday School teacher. The Hammonds have six children and ten grandchildren.