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Billy Joe Young was born March 23rd, 1930 in Cushing, Oklahoma to Wilfrid Earl Young and Helen Marguerite Beeley Young. He came into this world at a very healthy 12.5 pounds and joined two sisters, Evah Lois and Wilma June, and one brother, Wilfrid Earl, Junior. Six months later the family moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he grew up and where one more brother, Ralph LeRoy, was born.
He worked on a milk farm and was delivering milk door-to-door by age 5. After graduating from Stillwater High School in 1948, he married Delores Stanley Price. He was a class officer in FFA all four years and attained Junior Master Farmer of America. He attended one semester at OSU (then A&M College) before deciding to join the US Air Force on Feb. 2, 1951.
Dad is one of the only people to have signed his own birth certificate. The doctor suggested that Billy be named William Josephus Young. So when Dad entered the Air Force, he changed his name to Billy Joe Young and signed the document. During his 20-year Air Force career, Dad held several positions. He taught automotive mechanics and aircraft towing mechanics and wrote a manual for that job. He started his career as an enlisted man and completed Officer Candidate School, finishing with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in 1957. He completed Weapons Controller School before serving as Senior Director of an air defense crew. After being promoted to 1st Lieutenant, he served as a manual radar controller in Germany.
In 1965, he graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Studies. After serving as Chief Weapons Director, his final position was as a ground environment specialist at an Aerospace Defense Command where he worked on several projects. When he retired in May 1971, he held the rank of Major in the United States Air Force.
Dad married my Mom, Edna Marie, in November 1968. After retirement, he had a variety of jobs. He loved God and worked in the church on several committees. He belonged to the Midwest Boulevard Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Midwest City. He had a great sense of humor that allowed him to see the bright side of life. He thought outside the box where most people didn"t venture. He shared this characteristic with his first daughter, Marquita Sue.
Dad had a wonderful desire to see the world, and the Air Force was a perfect career to accomplish this. He explored his world wherever he lived " from Oklahoma to Wyoming, North Africa to Morocco, Florida to North Dakota, Germany to Canada, Colorado and Missouri to Michigan. He loved to drive or fly to explore the environment around him and followed the road no matter where it led. I"m so glad he shared this with us kids. Some of my fondest memories include traveling the country in a camper and staying at hotels and KOAs.
Dad was also very driven. I remember Dad showing me videotaped footage of him standing before a crowd at a town hall meeting about 15 years ago. He told the audience to learn more about promised healthcare by going to the website " H T T P Colon Backslash Backslash " I wish I"d been there to edit that part out. Dad was known for telling us kids, "You"ve gotta learn!" without providing many specifics afterword.
Long ago, Dad invented a game I still play on occasion. As a kid, when Joanne and I were waiting in the car for Mom, who was still getting ready inside the house, he would start singing "Come on Mama!" Each of us took turns parroting the same line to the tune of our grandfather clock unless we decided to say "Pass!" Dad said "Pass" a lot. My son Logan"s obsession with ice cream is inherited from Dad, who made Pepsi Floats every day while watching "Knots Landing" " or as he referred to it " "Snot"s Landing." In many ways, we shared the same wacky sense of humor. It"s fitting that Dad enjoyed a milkshake on his last day here on Earth.
Mom says she always called Dad her Rock of Gibraltar and he was that through the years. He told Mom when they married there would never be a dull moment, and with all the moves to new locations, how could there be? Mom says, in spite of work and family keeping them busy, he was a great devoted Dad, good provider and wonderful husband. He was a military man through and through. Beginning in the late 90s, he worked tirelessly to help bring about the Tri-Care For Life supplement for veteran retirees in 2001.
He was a hard worker at whatever he set his mind to. He always treated others fairly and equally, and became more gentle and appreciative in his later years. His strong faith sustained him through the years and in his last weeks, Mom says she and Dad had grown even closer. She already misses Dad very much. While I only had the opportunity to experience Dad"s retirement years, it was very clear to me that he had such a strong devotion and love for his family.
While his career was the Air Force, his personal life was faith in Christ and the gift of grace, and an incredibly deep love for his wife of 44 years. He needed her more than anyone and she was always, always there for him. Let"s all rejoice and give thanks to God that Major Billy Joe Young lived such a full life and is now with his parents, brothers and sisters and our Lord Jesus Christ. It"s an honor to share a name with a man who above all loved the Lord, his family and his country.
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