Jim F. Young

Jim Frank Young, 82, passed away peacefully on Friday, March 15, 2024, at Shenandoah House in Fishersville. He was born on September 1, 1941 in Omaha, Nebraska to the late Mr. Frank Willard Young and Mrs. Kathryn Bell Young.

Jim’s father worked for the Santa Fe Railroad, so Jim lived in several places in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado, ultimately graduating from high school in Denver, Colorado. Jim attended the University of Colorado in Boulder obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in 1964. While at CU, he met his lovely bride, Georgiana Phyllis Clark. They were married in Denver, Colorado on June 18, 1966, and then spent the next 57 years together. Jim and Georgie initially moved to Detroit, Michigan, but soon found their way to Washington, D.C.

Jim had two distinctly different careers, each spanning at least 25 years. His first was for the United States Government. He worked predominantly for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which then became the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). While at HHS, Jim spent many years as the Assistant Director and Acting Director of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (formerly known as The President’s Committee on Mental Retardation).

Jim’s second career started with a visit he and Georgie took to Rockbridge County, Virginia in 1991. They were looking for a piece of land to ultimately retire to due given Jim’s love of gardens and farming and Georgie’s love of the mountains. But then they saw Wade’s Mill, an operating historic grist (flour) mill, and Jim’s second career as a Miller began. In addition to performing all the tasks of a Miller and giving tours of the 1750-built mill, Jim and Georgie restored the stone and wood exterior of the Mill (a multi-year process), completed the work to have the Mill placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register, had a log schoolhouse rebuilt on the property as a log cabin, and hosted county-famous July 4th celebrations. In 2016, Jim and Georgie retired for a second time, sold Wade’s Mill, and moved to Staunton, Virginia to be closer to family.

In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Jim earned two different master’s degrees, both in the field of psychology: one in 1989 from George Mason University and the other from Towson University in 1993. Jim put those degrees to good use, not only at work but also by volunteering at several non-profit organizations in both the Washington area and in the Shenandoah Valley. This included serving on the Board of Directors at the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board.

Jim’s devotion to helping others was recognized by President George H.W. Bush. On April 19, 1990, President Bush honored Jim as one of the President’s “Thousand Points of Light.”

Jim had many interests outside of work and charity. He loved to garden (his tomatoes were unbelievably delicious); he loved music; he loved playing sports and playing chess; he loved going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina; and he loved dogs - and they loved him, too. In sports, he was an accomplished recreational tennis player, winning tournaments at the Department of Transportation and the Carderock Swim and Tennis Club. But mostly he loved his family. He was an experienced world traveler, not because he liked to travel, but because his wife and children loved to travel, so he traveled too. He made sure that while his children were growing up the family lived in only one city so that the children would not have to change schools. He not only cared about his wife and children, but also how everyone in the greater family was doing, including his nieces and nephews. And not much would give Jim greater joy than to pull out his guitar after a meal with friends and family (or ask his sister-in-law to get her guitar) and have everyone sing folk and religious songs into the night, especially if he could talk his daughter Kathryn into singing a few solo verses.

Jim is survived by his wife, Georgiana Clark Young; his children, James Dunlevy Young (Shelley) and Kathryn Young Dunay (Rick); his grandchildren, Alexander Kuntz, Clark Young, Grant Young, and Robert “Eli” Dunay; his step-grandchildren, Joseph “Harrison” Dunay and Mark “Wyatt” Dunay; his sisters-in-law and brother-in-law; and several nieces and nephews whom he loved dearly. 

In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his brother, Jack Young.

A funeral service will be held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Staunton, Virginia at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, 2024, with a luncheon to immediately follow in the church’s Memorial Hall. 

Memorial contributions may be made to Rockbridge Area Community Services Board (241 Greenhouse Road, Lexington, VA 24450, phone: (540) 463-3141).