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We at Gray Panthers are deeply saddened by the death on
May 30 of Bill Young, a long-time member of Gray Panthers,
an impassioned legislator with the California Senior Legislature,
a most eloquent spokesperson for the IHSS Program, and a
tireless advocate for all senior issues. Bill and his partner,
Lola Young, who is our Treasurer and a fearless spokesperson
for seniors in her own right, were a true power couple who
made their mark in Sacramento to and throughout the state.
In addition to Lola, Bill leaves his sons Louis and David,
and his son-in-law Randy Hicks, who is also a long-time
member and our very good friend and co-advocate.
Bill will be sorely missed by all those who
care about seniors and the disability community.
Obituary: William
Young was an advocate for the disabled
By Robert D. Dávila
bdavila@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 3B
Cancer left William "Bill" Young disabled but
did not stop him from helping others.
A client of In-Home Supportive Services, he was a vocal
advocate for seniors and people with disabilities. He testified
at hearings on aging and disability issues and served in
the California Senior Legislature.
He also tutored young people as a foster grandparent volunteer.
He taught math and English as a second language at Sacramento
Job Corps and served as a role model by earning his General
Educational Development diploma at age 70.
"He liked working at Job Corps, because they were all
kids who needed a second chance," said his former wife,
Lola Young, who was his full-time IHSS worker. "As
someone with cancer, he was a firm believer in second chances."
Mr. Young died Saturday of lung surgery complications at
age 76, his former wife said.
Giving back to others gave him purpose after he was diagnosed
with a fatal form of lymphoma in 1988. Doctors removed lymph
nodes from his face, neck and shoulder and transplanted
a nerve, saving his life but leaving him disabled.
Mr. Young became an activist for seniors and disabled people.
He served since 2002 in the California Senior Legislature,
an appointed group that proposes legislation on senior issues.
He joined Gray Panthers and spoke at Capitol hearings in
defense of funding for IHSS and other programs that help
seniors and disabled people live at home.
"When he was in front of the Legislature, he was the
best speaker in the world," Sacramento Gray Panthers
President Margie Metzler said, "because he was telling
his story, and it was totally authentic."
Mr. Young received local and national awards for volunteering
33,000 hours at Sacramento Job Corps as a foster grandparent
since 1995. He taught young people from 30 countries and
sought grants to help students attend college.
"Bill was a total advocate for the kids," Foster
Grandparent Program director Dennis Brodsky said. "He
saw positive things in them that they didn't see."
William Daniel Young was born in 1932 in Lynchburg, Tenn.,
and reared in Alabama with two siblings by their sharecropper
mother. He left high school to join the Air Force and was
discharged at McClellan Air Force Base.
He owned a North Sacramento service station and worked in
direct sales. He had a son from a first marriage that ended
in divorce and another during his 28-year marriage to the
former Lola Adorni.
He earned his GED six years ago through a Sacramento County
program for veterans.
He received a doctorate degree from Redding University,
which awards online degrees for work and life experience.
"Getting his GED was a matter of pride," Lola
Young said. "He told the kids at Job Corps, 'Look,
I got my diploma and you can get yours.' "
Bill Young:
Born: July 8, 1932
Died: May 30, 2009
Survived by: Sons, Louis Young of Salinas and David Rivers
of Sacramento; brother, Roy Young of Sacramento
Services: 11 a.m. today at Southgate Seventh-day Adventist
Church, 2299 Meadowview Road, Sacramento.
Donations: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to
Senior Citizens Services Inc., 8580 Elder Creek Road, Sacramento
95828.
Links: For information about organizations Mr. Young served,
view Senior California Legislature at www.4csl.org
and the Foster Grandparent Program at http://dhaweb.saccounty.net/Senior/fosterGP.htm.
Notice in the Bee:
Bill Young
Visit Guest Book http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=455394480760&cid=full
YOUNG, Bill
Senior Senator
July 8, 1932 - May 30, 2009
He tutored at Sacramento Job Corps, attained a PhD in Education,
and was a proud member of the California Senior Legislature,
Gray Panthers, Area 4 Agency on Aging, Sacramento Mental
Health Board and Foster Grandparents. Survived by loving
wife Lola and two sons David and Louie. Memorial will be
held on Wednesday, June 3, at 11:00 a.m. at Southgate Adventist,
2299 Meadowview Road. In lieu of flowers, contribute to
Senior Citizens Services.
Picture from Senior Spectrum: Stephen Baetge,
editor@senior-spectrum.com
A memorial Service will be held on Wednesday June 3, at
11:00 am. at Southgate Seventh Day Adventist Church, 2299
Meadowview Road, Sacramento, Ca. 95832. (24th Street is
the nearest major cross street. Take I-5 South and exit
Meadowview Road, or 99, exit at Florin and go west, south
on 24th and right on Meadowview.) In lieu of flowers, please
make a donation to Senior Citizen Services, 8540 Elder Creek
Road, Sacramento, Ca. 95828.
Lola’s contact information: (916) 428-4371
Email: young7458@att.net
Address: 7351 15th St.
Sacramento 95822
From Lola Young, Bill Young’s partner:
It is with regret that I must tell you that Bill passed
away today, May 30, 2009. Thank you all for the prayers
and thoughts that have been sent.
A memorial Service will be held on Wednesday June 3, at
11:00 am. at Southgate Seventh Day Adventist Church, 2299
Meadowview Road, Sacramento, Ca. 95832 In lieu of flowers,
please make a donation to Senior Citizen Services, 8540
Elder Creek Road, Sacramento, Ca. 95828
From Marty Omoto:
CDCAN REPORT
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
ADVOCACY WITHOUT BORDERS: ONE COMMUNITY
REPORT #160-2009 MAY 31, 2009 – SUNDAY MORNING
California Disability Community Action Network Disability
Rights News goes out to over 45,000 people with disabilities,
mental health needs, seniors, veterans with disabilities
and mental health needs, their families, workers, community
organizations, including those in Asian/Pacific Islander,
Latino, African American communities, policy makers and
others across California. To reply to this report write:
MARTY OMOTO at martyomoto@rcip.com
Website: www.cdcan.us
JUNE 2 PROTEST IN MEMORY OF BILL YOUNG - REMEMBERING
BILL YOUNG, CALIFORNIA SENIOR LEGISLATOR – AND THOUGHTS
AND PRAYERS TO HIS WIFE LOLA & FAMILY
BREAKING NEWS:
BILL YOUNG, SENIOR ADVOCATE, PASSES AWAY
MEMBER OF CALIFORNIA SENIOR LEGISLATURE
Young Was Much Respected & Loved Presence At State
Capitol On Disability and Senior Issues – Memorial
Service Set for June 3rd
SACRAMENTO, CALIF (CDCAN) [Updated 05/31/09 05:17 AM (Pacific
Time) - Bill Young of Sacramento, a member of the California
Senior Legislature and the Sacramento Gray Panthers, and
a widely respected and loved advocate for seniors and people
with disabilities, died Saturday evening (May 30th) at UC
Davis Medical Center in Sacramento after being hospitalized
for the past month.
Memorial Service Set for June 3 at 11 AM
A memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, at 11:00 AM
on June 3, 2009 at Southgate Seventh Day Adventist Church,
2299 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA, 95832 (24th Street
is the nearest major cross street. Take I-5 South and exit
Meadowview Road). 2299 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA,
95832 http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
In lieu of flowers, wife Lola Young asks that donations
instead be made to the Senior Citizen Services, 8540 Elder
Creek Road, Sacramento, CA, 95828
Where to Send Email Messages
Messages and prayers for Bill and Lola Young can be sent
via email to Lola Young at: young7458@att.net
Cards or letters can also be sent in care of the Sacramento
Gray Panthers c/o Sacramento Gray Panthers, Post Office
Box 19438, Sacramento, CA 95819. Or you can contact Lola
directly at the contact information above.
Friends and Fellow Advocates Mourn Passing
Friends, fellow advocates and state policymakers across
the State are reacting with sadness to the news of the death
of Bill Young.
John Wilkins, a disability advocate from Fresno, mourned
Young’s death, saying that “Bill was a passionate,
vocal advocate for our cause and his loss is particularly
hard at this time of such struggle.”
Sandra Fitzpatrick, executive director of the California
Commission on Aging sent an email to Lola Young writing
that she was “sending you prayers and wishes for the
strength you will need. Know that so many people are there
for you.”
Connie Arnold, a disability rights advocate and friend
of both Lola and Bill Young, said earlier this month when
he was first hospitalized that, Bill Young “...has
been a strong and powerful advocate for In-Home Supportive
Services program to allow seniors and persons with disabilities
to remain living independently in their own homes.”
Bill & Lola Young Prominent Advocates At State
Capitol
Until recently, Bill and Lola Young were both active in
giving testimony, public comments at various budget and
other legislative hearings and speaking to hundreds at protest
rallies over the years, advocating for rights of seniors
and people with disabilities, particularly on the issues
impacting budget cuts to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
and SSI/SSP grants to the elderly, blind and disabled
Bill Young received In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
and Lola is his IHSS worker. The couple was profiled last
year in the Sacramento Bee and Lola Young was the previous
chair of the Sacramento County IHSS Advisory Committee.
His passing follows the loss of another respected and loved
senior advocate, Joan B. Lee, who died 9 months ago. Both
were members of the Sacramento Gray Panthers.
Bill Young Was Active In California Senior Legislature
Bill Young was a “Senior Senator” in the California
Senior Legislature and until his illness, had consistently
pushed for rights of seniors and people with disabilities
to live in their own homes.
The California Senior Legislature is a volunteer body whose
primary mission is to gather ideas for legislation at the
state and federal levels, craft the ideas into formal proposals,
prioritize the proposals, present them to members of the
Legislature or the Congress, and advocate for laws implementing
the ideas.
The California Senior Legislature was founded largely through
the efforts of then State Senator Henry Mello, who passed
away in 2004, introduced legislation in 1980 (ACR 129) that
requested that the California Commission on Aging call a
session of what was then known as the “Silver-Haired
Legislature”.
Bill Young, who always spoke proudly of his involvement
in the California Senior Legislature, represented Planning
and Service Area 4.
Personal Note from Marty Omoto:
The loss of Bill Young, especially at such a time when the
people he fought to protect are facing devastating threats
with major budget cuts, is beyond measure. He was a tremendous
advocate who was deeply loved, respected, admired and needed
not only for his advocacy work, but what he meant to so
many people in Sacramento and across the state simply as
a friend. We miss him terribly as a friend most of all.
For his wife and constant companion, Lola, the loss is
not only beyond measure, but perhaps even beyond words.
For anyone who knew or heard Bill speak, one would understand
that. When he spoke, he was passionate, forceful but most
of all, he could be mix humor and a certain homespun wisdom,
that was compelling and good for the soul to listen to.
Somehow, he nearly always made it first in line to speak
at so many public hearings. He was there. So was Lola. For
all of us.
Bill had such a strong and memorable personality –
as does Lola, and they each were known for their individual
advocacy that was effective, strong and unrelenting. And
yet, despite their strong individual personalities, they
were thought of by those who knew them (or were the targets
of their advocacy) as an unbreakable, unstoppable advocacy
team.
Even if you did not know Bill – or have not yet known
Lola – their work together and individually has impacted
the lives of thousands of people with disabilities and seniors,
people with mental health needs and others across California.
Both have done so much for so many for so many years for
other people with disabilities, mental health needs, for
seniors and others.
As I mentioned and wrote earlier this month, I hope people
will bear with me that I am sending out these reports –
as I did for others who have made a remarkable difference,
like Joan Lee of the Sacramento Gray Panthers, who passed
away last August. We miss her still – we always will.
So many others too – Donald Roberts, Betty Bacon,
Jim Sanford, Noel Neudeck, Natasha Littletree, Warren Mattingly,
Shirley Klein. We miss them all.
It is important for all of us to always remember that our
advocacy is always based on the simple truth that a life
matters.
And the life of Bill Young did matter. And the life of
his wife and our friend Lola Young matters still.
Pray for Bill, and send messages of comfort and support,
including your prayers and thoughts to his wife Lola and
their family. They have always been there for all of us.
With Bill’s passing, Lola and their family need us
to be there for them.
It is such a difficult time for the communities –
for the people – that Bill fought for so hard and
for so long. It bothered him greatly and moved him as an
advocate to be there for others, even when he himself was
threatened by many of these budget cuts personally.
The same was true of Lola too.
As we continue in the coming days and weeks and months
in our efforts to fight against injustice and to fight for
the rights of people with disabilities, mental health needs
and seniors and low income families, let’s remember
the life and work of Bill Young – bring comfort to
Lola.
And let us never forget that their lives – and the
lives of everyone we fight for – matter.
Thank you Bill Young for your life and what you meant to
us. And our constant prayers and thoughts and love to Lola
Young and Bill’s Family.
Senior Spectrum article, 2006:
http://www.senior-spectrum.com/news07_050906/index.html
By Stephen Baetge
Editor
Let’s face it, it’s people like William “Bill”
Young, 73, that make you proud to be an American. In a most
recent accomplishment, Young received the 2006 Heart of
a Hero “Knowledge of the Heart” award for his
active role in mentoring youth and serving as a role model
to local teens.
The Heart of a Hero award is sponsored by California Family
Fitness and Florin Road Consolidated Charities-Florin Road
Bingo, and it honors people, programs and companies helping
kids in the four-county area each year to benefit the North
Area and West Sacramento Teen Centers, which helps fund
the free-of-charge after school drop in centers for kids
and provides exceptional local role models.
In the company of elected officials, law enforcement and
civic leaders, seven other awards were given out to people
who have made a significant difference in the lives of youth
in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties. The
recipients were also honored for their efforts by the North
Area Teen Center and the West Sacramento Collings Teen Center.
Young is a mentor and role model who has spent the last
11 years helping to counsel, tutor and share with kids through
the Sacramento Job Corps, and he has been a foster grandparent
volunteer since 1995.
Young participates in the annual Senior Legislature at
the Capitol, and while very active in senior issues, he
also makes time to share his life experience, education
and outlook with kids five days a week at the Sacramento
Job Corps.
Bill has donated somewhere around 27,000 hours of volunteer
service to his foster grandchildren in the last 11 years.
“Five days a week, eight hours a day,” he said.
But receiving awards for foster grandparenting and mentoring
roles in the lives of local children is nothing new to Young.
He is an inspiring person who says that working with youth
helps him to stay active, and it gives him the best reason
to get up each morning.
“In April of 2005, I received the MetLife Foundation’s
National Volunteer award for the work I do with teens and
the senior legislature,” he said.
“Being a foster grandparent is the most rewarding
thing I’ve ever done, and it means more to me than
I can ever say. I’ve been doing it since 1995 when
I saw an ad for foster grandparenting in Spectrum. I called
and immediately got involved. I spend five days a week with
Job Corp youth in the 16 to 26 age category,” said
Young.
“I received the MetLife Foundation Award at the
Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington D.C.” said Young.
“Karla Crawford, executive director of the foster
grandparenting program in Sacramento nominated me for the
award because of my foster grandparenting and my involvement
in senior advocacy.”
“I was also given a J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award
in 2000 for being a volunteer foster grandparent.”
“And then,” Young added with a blush, “I
received a commendation from President Clinton in 2000 for
receiving the Golden Rule award.”
“And in 2002,” he added, “I received
a commendation from President George W. Bush for volunteering
more than 4000 hours.”
“Those kids I foster grandparent are the most important
thing in my life. They come from over 30 different countries,
and they call me Grandpa,” he said with pride.
It was a long road from his hometown of Lynchburg, Tennessee,
where he was born in 1932, to his present time in the Senior
Legislature.
Young grew up near Huntsville, Alabama, and he joined
the Air Force in 1952 before completing his senior year.
He was raised by his mother, and they were sharecroppers.
He has one brother and one sister.
Young came to California in 1954 with Air Force, and he
was stationed in Japan during the Korean War, where he was
trained as aircraft engine mechanic and supply technician.
Young saw no combat in the Air Force, and after the service,
he worked in a variety of careers, from the service station
business to photography and sales.
“I eventually took my GED and received a high school
diploma,” said Young. “And I spent a four-year
apprenticeship in radio and radio repair.”
“I then took U.C. Berkeley extension courses at
McClellan AFB,” he said humbly, “And eventually
I received a PhD in adult education.”
“I speak moderate Japanese and Spanish, too, and
in 2005, I completed the U.C. Davis Mini-Medical School.”
Besides foster grandparenting five days a week, Young
is a senior senator. “The second most important thing
in life to me is the Senior Legislature,” said Young.
“Just like the regular legislature, California has
80 senior assembly members and 40 senior senators. They
are voted in by the county Area on Aging groups.”
“I spent six months as a senior assemblyman, then
moved into the senior senator position. I’ve been
there ever since, doing my best to help seniors through
the critical issues facing us all. I’ve served three
two-year terms, and now that the senior senator has changed
to four-year terms, I’m just beginning another four-year
term,” said Young.
“In the Senior Legislature, we take over the State
Capitol in Sacramento for four days each year,” he
said with a laugh. “And the State Capitol is also
where I serve on the Social and Community Services committee.
I often wear two badges.”
“There are many tough issues facing seniors right
now, and whether you’re rich or poor, male or female,
working or retired, you need someone in your corner. That’s
what the Senior Legislature is all about, and that’s
what I am all about.”
“Lola is my ex-wife, but she is also my fulltime,
live-in caretaker. We have a 46-year-old son named Louis
who lives in Salinas. I am disabled. Around 20 years ago,
I was diagnosed with a fatal form of cancer, lymphoma carcinoma.
Through treatment and drastic lifestyle changes, I’ve
been cancer-free for 18 years,” Young said with pride.
And as an interesting side-note, Bill Young did not know
about a son he had named David “Daniel” Rivers
for 45 years.
“His mother didn’t tell him I was the father
until he was eight or nine years old,” said Young.
“David, 48, is now a Paratransit driver in Sacramento,
and a friend of mine was talking to him on a trip. She heard
his name and mentioned it to Lola, saying the man sounded
like a relation to me. I called him, and we met last Thanksgiving.
He is definitely my son, and we now see each other weekly.”
And Bill Young’s footprints are everywhere now,
from the halls of the State Capitol, where he is an advocate
for senior issues, to the Sacramento classrooms where he
spends eights hours a day teaching youth from around the
world how to be an American.
Those students are learning from one of the best, and
a majority of senior advocates say the critical senior issues
being heard are thanks to people like William D. Young.
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