James Young
James was born in Pt Gamble, WA to Lester and Grace Young. The youngest of four children he was fondly called “Sunny Jim” or “Jimmy”. His childhood years were spent in Kingston, The Maple Leaf area of Seattle and finally Bothell. Jim attended Maple Leaf Elementary School, Bothell Junior High and graduated in 1951 from Bothell High School. Not much of a student, he didn’t enjoy school, but he loved the game of golf and spent every waking moment he could at the local golf course. Along with his black cocker spaniel, Baby, he’d find golf balls he’d turn in to help pay for a round of golf and sometimes, he would just sneak onto the course to play. Golf was in his blood and his life-long passion. Winning the Tiny Tads Washington State Championship at age 12, he went on to shoot a 61 at Jackson Park at 16 and won many tournaments and trophies over the course of his lifetime. He had the pleasure of playing courses worldwide including Scotland and Japan. He could also play a mean game of pool and had many 300 bowling games.
Among his other talents was his good ear for music and perfect pitch. As a child he had an excellent singing voice and played the trumpet by ear.
Upon graduation at 17, he immediately joined the Navy where he served 16 years followed consecutively by 5 years in the Army. He retired from the military on his 38th birthday as a Warrant Officer. Jim had an interesting military career. Initially he was on the Navy golf team but due to bad teeth and extended dental visits, he missed his opportunity to tour with the team and instead ended up on a troop ship to Korea.
In 1956, while stationed in San Diego, he met his wife Evva in Los Angeles and a week later they eloped to Reno, Nevada. Shortly thereafter, Jim was transferred to the Submarine Base in New London, Connecticut where he was assigned as a cartographer on the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear powered submarine commanded by the legendary Admiral Hyman Rickover. As Jim recounted his experience on the voyage under the polar ice cap, he became claustrophobic looking at the camera monitors of the ice shelves with the needle-like points of the ice just inches from the skin of the sub. When asked by Rickover, “Sailor, would you like to continue to sail with me?” Jim’s response was, “Respectfully no, Sir.” When the sub returned to New London Jim promptly transferred to surface ships.
In 1961 he was transferred to Galveston, TX where he was a cartographer for the Navy at the Coast Guard Station mapping the Bay for vessel traffic. While in Galveston, he made Chief Petty Officer at age 28. After two years in Galveston, he was transferred to Charleston, SC where he served for 3-1/2 years.
Seeking to advance his military career, Jim transferred in 1966 from the Navy to US Army as a Warrant Officer and was stationed in Newport News, VA for the next two years. In 1968 he moved his family to Seattle, WA to be close to his family while he was deployed for a one-year tour in Vietnam as the Vessel Master of a LCU running supplies in the Saigon-Vung Tau-Delta complex. Upon returning from Vietnam, he was assigned to his final duty station at Ft McArthur in San Pedro, California and once again, in 1971, he was deployed to Vietnam. For his Vietnam service Jim was awarded the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He never spoke of his wartime experience so little is known about the circumstances for which he came to be awarded these two medals.
Jim’s life was one of tremendous potential and of missed opportunities… seemingly charmed and cursed at the same time. He was a tremendously intelligent, talented and focused man who was robbed of life’s best by His bi-polar and post traumatic stress disorder and physical health problems related to his exposure to Agent Orange. Though shy and reserved by nature, he enjoyed a good joke and playfully teased friends and family with his one-liners or nicknames. He seldom spoke ill of others and was tolerant of an individual’s shortcomings and foibles. As much as possible, Jim tried to live his life on his own terms in keeping with his first grade teacher’s comment, “Jimmy does what he wants to do”.
His wife, Evva Jean, their son James Paul, Jr. and daughter, Ann Marie Young, precede Jim in death. His three daughters, Evva “Charlene” Young – Bellevue, WA, Theresa Lynn Young – Wayland, NY, and Sharon Janine Young – Everett, WA, and his sister Patricia Ann Flanagan, Woodinville survive him. Along with six grandchildren: Nicholas Aaron DeMarc – Seattle, Erin Candyce DeMarc – Seattle, Michael Ross Young – unknown, Patrick Alan Davis – Renton, Laura Lynn Tate and Roger Rule Tate both in Wickenburg, AZ.